Getty New York Jets cornerback DJ Reed Jr going through a practice during training camp.
The New York Jets finally received some good injury news on Friday, September 9.
Veteran cornerback DJ Reed Jr said he’s good to go for Sunday’s game versus the Baltimore Ravens after dodging a bullet with a major injury scare, per Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic.
DJ Reed said he’s good to go for Sunday. Said he “dodged a bullet” with his knee injury, thought when it happened it might be worse. #Jets
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DJ Reed Back in Lineup Is Great for Business
This offseason the Jets flirted with multiple cornerback options during free agency.
Last season the green and white survived at corner but the staff wanted to thrive in 2022. After evaluating an array of options they decided Reed would fit the bill for what they were looking for.
Gang Green inked the 25-year-old to a juicy three-year deal worth over $33 million on the open market taking him away from the Seattle Seahawks.
Reed has put up some impressive stats and compares favorably to his peers, but he certainly wasn’t a household name among Jets fans.
The other thing that stood out or perhaps didn’t was his diminutive size at just 5-foot-9, 193 pounds. When people see that size and then see that Reed is a corner, most assume he is exclusively a slot guy.
That was the same mistake head coach Robert Saleh made when they crossed paths with the San Francisco 49ers back in 2018-19:
Keeps the Pressure off of Sauce Gardner
Reed has been banged up throughout training camp with a variety of ailments.
The most recent injury occurred during the first Jets, New York Giants joint practice in 17 years.
In the middle of the workout, Reed went down “grabbing his knee”, per Ralph Vacchiano.
Not a great day for the Jets. Rookie DE Jermaine Johnson limped off a few minutes ago and now CB DJ Reed went down grabbing his knee.
He appeared to be frustrated after walking off the field and never returned to practice. With all of the other recent bad injury news, people were starting to worry that Reed would be out for the season opener. However, he is good to go.
Reed is one of the most underrated important pieces on this team. The Jets signed him to be their top cornerback and he is paired with the No. 4 overall pick from the 2022 NFL draft, Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner.
With Reed back in the fold, there won’t be as much pressure on the rookie to carry the entire load.
While the Ravens aren’t abundant in wide receiver talent, they have some players that can cause some problems. If the Jets can wrangle those guys in that can limit what Baltimore can do offensively.
Make no mistake about it, this team is a true Super Bowl contender and it’s no surprise that they’re an overwhelming favorite this week. According to the latest Vegas lines, the Ravens are tied for the largest point spread this week of any NFL team over the Jets (-7).
If Gang Green is going to pull off the upset they’re going to need to force some turnovers and with that provide short fields for their offense to work with.
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