Getty A group of New York Jets players reacting in the middle of an NFL game.
The New York Jets are cutting bait with a former draft selection.
Adam Schefter of ESPN shared on Twitter that the team is “waiving” punter Braden Mann “after attempting to trade him” this offseason.
As Schefter noted, instead of having to trade for him now any team has the ability to “claim him” off of waivers.
Jets Fans React to Braden Mann Release News
The 25-year-old initially entered the league as the No. 191 overall pick in the sixth round of the 2020 NFL draft.
After showing some promise in his rookie season, Mann had struggled when called upon over the last two seasons.
Despite those struggles, the team continued to back their draft pick and refused to replace him, drawing some fans’ ire.
Jets analyst Joe Caporoso tweeted on December 18 that “one week” the team will finally listen to his advice and “cut Mann” so they can improve at punter.
After the news of his release made its way to social media, Caporoso quote tweeted his old post and simply said, “we made it.”
One fan tweeted, “Braden Mann is finally gone from my football team” and accompanied his caption with a video of someone fist-pumping to a raucous crowd.
On March 17, Adam Schefter tweeted that the Jets have had “trade discussions” with other teams for Mann’s services. That sent social media into a tizzy in disbelief that Gang Green might be able to acquire an asset for a player they perceived to be not very good.
Ultimately general manager Joe Douglas wasn’t able to find a suitor for Mann and a fan claimed that is because he was “extraordinarily bad.”
Another fan tweeted “God is that you” in response to the news that Mann was released.
Some fans were more colorful in their descriptions using a popular movie clip to tell Mann to “get the f*** out.”
A lot of Jets fans have ill feelings toward Mann because he made a certain special teams tackle during the 2020 regular season against the Los Angeles Rams. If he missed that tackle the Rams would have scored a return touchdown.
Fans wanted the team to tank that season for Trevor Lawrence. If the Jets would have lost that game they would have been in a better position to select T-Law instead of Zach Wilson.
Thomas Morstead Takes Over for Braden Mann on Jets
Rich Cimini of ESPN called Mann getting released “inevitable” after the team signed veteran Thomas Morstead earlier this offseason.
Another strong indicator was the $1.1 million guaranteed on his one-year deal. The Jets wouldn’t have handed over that kind of money at punter if they didn’t believe he was going to be the starter.
Caporoso said the “Morstead era has saved us” with Mann being released.
Interestingly enough this isn’t Morstead’s first time being on the Jets. Mann got hurt in 2021 and the Jets signed Morstead to fill in for him.
He performed so well that some fans were begging the team to make him the permanent replacement. Despite that outside pressure once Mann was medically cleared the Jets decided to cut ties with Morstead and stick with their punter.
Now a few years later Jets fans got their wish with Morstead returning to the team and Mann exiting out the door.
With Mann officially gone, there are only four players left from Douglas’ first draft class with the team in 2020.