Getty Is New York Jets offensive tackle Chuma Edoga finally expendable?
New York Jets fans are in for a rare treat tonight on August 22, a primetime affair on Monday Night Football.
Although it’s only a preseason outing, this game will have major roster implications ahead of the second round of cuts the following afternoon. Before the Jets drop five more men they’ll have one final audition on the league’s most famous weekly stage, and our expert writers Paul ‘Boy Green’ Esden Jr and Michael Obermuller have the perfect mailbag column to preview the big night.
This morning’s questions hit on the joint practices with the Atlanta Falcons, this year’s veteran additions, and the impending cuts. First, a look at our most recent fan-based discussions:
- Week 52: Start of training camp — surprise cuts & offseason transformations.
- Week 53: Camp standouts & disappointments, notable cuts that could occur.
- Week 54: Green & White reactions, Duane Brown & trading Denzel Mims.
- Week 55: Predicting the first round of cuts, preseason opener reactions.
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Joint Practices: Love em or Hate em?
1. Do you take any stock in the Jets reportedly dominating the Atlanta Falcons at joint practices? Considering the low expectations for ATL in 2022. What’s your big takeaway from the two practices, if any?
Boy Green:
I absolutely do. Did you see the Jets compete with the Philadelphia Eagles last year?
Gang Green was getting smacked around left and right so it’s refreshing to see the other side of the field. Look at the early power rankings around the league, the Jets are consistently in the bottom three and it’ll be that way until they prove otherwise.
My biggest takeaway is two-fold: the Jets are clearly a better team and they’ve got some young bright stars for the future. Seeing all the young players ball out against a team of a different jersey color felt more real than any of the previous milestones of the offseason.
Obermuller:
I do take it with a slight grain of salt. The Jets starters got dominated by Philly last week during the first quarter. Not just Zach Wilson and one or two players, the entire first-team offense and defense aside from Elijah Moore and Tyler Conklin.
Sure, the Eagles look like a playoff team but it was a reminder that the Jets have a long way to go. Winning the preseason game doesn’t mean much when the starters go down 14-0 in the blink of an eye.
My takeaways? The Falcons and Marcus Mariota are as bad as I thought and Gang Green must stay hungry as they work their way up the food chain.
2. Sticking with this topic, do you agree with the idea of joint practices or do you feel it’s an unnecessary preseason risk that leads to more injuries and fights?
BG:
I think they’re some of the most beneficial types of activity that are available outside of actual regular season games. However, I also agree to a certain extent with head coach Robert Saleh.
He said that sometimes players can get such great work during the joint practices that the games become less important to play in (and risk injury). As a former football player on an obviously much lower level, those scrimmages against other teams were true measuring sticks for what we believed we were or weren’t.
I’m happy this time around that there weren’t any major injuries and hopefully the same can be said for next week against the New York Giants.
MO:
Yeah, I have to agree. At a certain point, you have to understand that this is football — a truly violent sport.
Injuries happen and if someone was fated to go down at joint practices, chances are an injury might have befallen that player sooner or later. It kills to lose a star before the season — like Carl Lawson in 2021 — but these athletes need to go up against someone on another team.
There are only three preseason games and with snaps divided up among 80-90 players, the joint practice reps are extremely beneficial to those that receive them.
3. Out of all of this year’s free agent signings, who have you been most impressed with so far? Has anyone disappointed you?
BG:
It is easily Laken Tomlinson, the former San Francisco 49ers stalwart. He was a home-run signing and will bring a level of consistency to the offensive line.
I think one of the big reasons he was signed beyond his elite play was the nastiness he brings to the team. That is an infectious energy that we have already seen pay dividends in practice via the “One Jets Drive” extra footage. I thought that would be apparent on the offensive line but it surprised me the level of impact he has had on the defensive side, especially with Quinnen Williams. This guy is going to be a reliable superstar for the Jets in 2022 and beyond.
A disappointing signing has been Vinny Curry. It’s probably unfair to label him in such a way, especially with the injuries he has been managing during training camp, but I expected a more consistent pop from the veteran.
He is clearly a leader on this team and is inspirational to his teammates, but the Jets brought him in for more than that. I’d like to see him make some noise but to be blunt, he is simply running out of time to impress before he gets dumped on the side of the road like yesterday’s news.
MO:
See, I would have thought the obvious selection was tight end Tyler Conklin. The ex-Minnesota dual-threat came to New York as an underrated signing and he has been eye-opening in every sense of the word, impressing with whichever quarterback is under center.
I’ll give you one more lesser-known development too — edge rusher Jacob Martin. This dude came to the Jets with almost no fanfare and has quietly torn it up at training camp. Watch out for the pass rusher contributing in a big with behind Lawson and company.
On the disappointing side, I’ll say C.J. Uzomah. The initial tight end acquisition was labeled as the veteran safety net that could help Wilson the same way he did Joe Burrow. I have been loving his leadership off the field but I haven’t seen much on the gridiron to warrant the contract so far.
Uzomah feels like a glorified blocker at this time and with nagging injuries in camp, I wonder what his overall contribution will look like by the end of 2022.
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Pack Your Bags…
4. Same as last week, give me the most notable name that will be waived during the second round of roster cuts.
BG:
I think it’s time for the Jets to cut bait on former Buffalo Bills waiver wire snag, cornerback Rachad Wildgoose.
It’s a numbers game at the position and he seems like the name that is next set to go. It looked like he was going to be a massive steal but unfortunately, the room is far too deep and he is going to get put on the chopping block.
MO:
Obviously, a lot of this will come down to tonight’s game against the Falcons. Bubble candidates will get plenty of burn and a few cut possibilities may even go head-to-head on snaps.
Having said that, it gives me no joy to predict this week’s cuts and it’ll only get tougher from here. The most notable among these five will be offensive tackle Chuma Edoga. Veteran pickup Caleb Benenoch stepped up and proved he could play the swing role against the Eagles. That should continue vs. Atlanta.
At the same time, Edoga has been getting beat like he stole something all summer and staff favorite Conor McDermott should be returning from injury sometime soon. Second-year OT Grant Hermanns has also performed well, meaning the former third-round pick from the Mike Maccagnan era is finally expendable.
5. Predict the remaining four cuts ahead of the Tuesday, August 23, deadline.
BG:
1. Ross Pierschbacher, center. A versatile hog molly that has potential, but there is no clear path to a 53-man roster spot so the Jets do a solid by cutting him now.
2. Bradlee Anae, defensive end. Anae was in the headlines for all the wrong reasons by throwing punches during the Jets-Falcons joint practices. Now he is in the headlines for getting released. Sorry pal, but it is the end of the line.
3. Tony Adams, safety. I predicted last week he would get cut and I’m sticking to my guns that he is on the outside looking in.
4. Tarik Black, wide receiver. The Jets have been cutting some promising players in the receiving corps and Black is the next name on the list. A super talented player that should find work quickly with another team.
MO:
1. Anae; I agree with my partner on this one and actually had Anae getting cut last week. I’ll stick with that gut feeling now. Edge rusher is too deep and the former Utah star has been too inconsistent to keep.
2. Isaiah Williams, guard. The offensive line has plenty of interior depth and I think a younger talent like Pierschbacher or Chris Glaser offers more as a potential practice squad candidate. The on-again, off-again journeyman makes his final exit.
3. La’Mical Perine, running back. Another repeat selection from last week but we don’t answer these to be original, we answer them to be correct. I still see Perine as the odd man out in the RB room.
4. Elijah Riley, safety. This is a bit of a longshot but the Jets are currently holding way too many bodies at safety and it’s less likely that they can keep Riley on the practice squad than an unknown rookie like Adams. The Army grad had some nice moments for the Jets last season but he’s stuck behind five established veterans on the depth chart and his ceiling seems limited.
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