Jets Sign Promising Ex-Broncos Draft Pick, 2nd-Year Defender

Denver Broncos huddle

Getty A group of Denver Broncos players huddling up before snapping the ball during an NFL game.

The New York Jets have added another body to the defensive line room.

Gang Green announced that they have signed second-year defender Marquiss Spencer to their practice squad.


Jets Shuffle the Deck on the Practice Squad Ahead of Bears Game

The Jets were forced to make a roster move because the New England Patriots stole veteran offensive lineman Conor McDermott off of their practice squad.

NFL teams no longer have the power to protect players on their practice squad on a week-to-week basis. During COVID the league allowed each team the option of protecting up to four players so another team couldn’t come and swipe one.

Heading into this season they wiped that rule away and everyone was fair game. The catch is if another NFL team wants to sign someone off of your practice squad they must be added to the active 53-man roster.

With the Patriots battling an array of injuries in the trenches they were able to steal an experienced player from their bitter rival.

So in a corresponding move, the Jets have added Marquiss Spencer to the 16-man practice squad.

Spencer originally entered the NFL as the No. 253 overall pick in the seventh round by the Denver Broncos in 2021.

After being selected in April of that year, he was released ahead of the final roster cuts in that season. Once he cleared waivers he was re-signed to Denver’s practice squad the next day.

Coming out of the draft, NFL analyst Lance Zierlein said he is a “naturally strong” player that has “first-step explosiveness” and pretty “good edge bend.”

In terms of the bad, Zierlein said he had some issues with his weight and that can impact how effective he is.

A defensive coach for an NFC team provided this quote on Spencer’s potential via NFL dot com:

“It doesn’t always show up with his production but he’s got rush talent and he’s a good athlete for a big man.”


Jets Working out Some Interesting Players

We all know Robert Saleh loves some defensive linemen, so you can never have enough of those on the team.

Speaking of defense the Jets as a team worked out three players on Tuesday, November 23 according to the latest NFL transactions report.

The most interesting of which was a former Zach Wilson teammate at BYU.

Chris Wilcox is a 25-year-old cornerback from Brigham Young University. He was teammates with Wilson for three seasons from 2018 through 2020.

He originally entered the league in 2021 as the No. 251 overall pick in the seventh round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After being drafted that same year he was dumped ahead of the final roster cuts.

Wilcox was immediately claimed off of waivers by the Indianapolis Colts and spent the next year and change there.

The Jets also worked out two other defensive backs on Tuesday.

Chris Westry brings amazing size at 6-foot-4, 197 pounds. He was an undrafted free agent back in 2019 and has spent time on three different NFL teams (Dallas Cowboys, Baltimore Ravens, and most recently with the Carolina Panthers).

Last but certainly not least is Nasir Greer out of Wake Forest. He’s a rookie defensive back that spent some time with the Kansas City Chiefs this offseason.

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