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As we approached the final roster cuts for the New York Jets, a lot of folks thought they had some idea of where the team was leaning.
That was very much not the case as one player that was expected to get cut by the fans and media actually ended up making the team.
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An Explanation From the Top
What the Jets ended up doing at safety led to a lot of dropped jaws among the fan base.
The starters were obvious in Lamarcus Joyner and Jordan Whitehead, but who the backups would be was a total mystery.
Well, once the roster was officially announced it was Ashtyn Davis and Tony Adams making the final cut. Adams an undrafted free agent out of Illinois completely flew under the radar the entire offseason and candidly it was a total surprise that he made it.
Davis was another player that had by all accounts disappointed throughout the entire offseason. A former third-round draft choice that certainly possessed athleticism, but in terms of proven results they just weren’t there.
Of course, he ended up making the roster too and that meant the coaching staff and front office had some explaining to do.
Head coach Robert Saleh spoke to the media first on the final day of August and defended the decision to keep Davis:
“First off character, he is made of everything that you want. Davis comes every day and works every day. His first season was a little bit derailed, last year people forget that he missed all of OTAs and a good portion of training camp. He gets the ball a few times and has some production. Obviously has some situations or plays that he wishes he had back. Just his overall body of work and I felt like he got better throughout training camp. A really vital part of special teams. He is still getting better and really excited to get him back.”
Saleh essentially said he’s a nice guy, works hard, but is a key cog on special teams. They better hope if he is called upon he can contribute to the team a little more than that.
A lot of people have speculated on social media that the real reason Davis wasn’t cut was because of his draft status. Davis was the No. 68 overall pick in the third round of general manager Joe Douglas’ very first draft.
You’d think for his previously highest drafted defender ever (excluding 2022) that he might have a soft spot in his heart for Davis. However, when JD spoke he said that the entire decision-making process at safety was “excruciating” which means according to the dictionary “extremely painful.”
“I honestly felt like we had six 53-man-worthy safeties. So that was probably one of the more excruciating cutdowns to go from the numbers we had to four. Ultimately a lot of what went into that decision is outside of the two starters, special teams were going to be a large component of that.”
Complete and Utter Outrage
Despite those somewhat compelling arguments and rationale for their decision, the fans didn’t care.
Several of them took to the social media streets to share their displeasure with the front office.
Fortunately, the Jets were able to lure back Will Parks to their practice squad, but the same couldn’t be said for Jason Pinnock who was claimed off of waivers by the New York Giants.
Would Davis have been claimed off of waivers? The world may never know.
It was pretty clear a lot of people were upset with the decision.
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