The New York Jets surprisingly lost a projected defensive starter to a season-ending injury.
When the team announced its initial 53-man roster, it revealed that veteran Byron Cowart was placed on injured reserve.
As Andy Vasquez of NJ Advance Media pointed out on social media, “Jets DT Byron Cowart (ankle) was not designated to return from IR, which means his Jets season is over (could sign [with] a different team if Jets release him [with] an injury settlement at some point).”
Some context: teams can designate 2 players to return from IR on cutdown day, like Jets did [with] LB Ja’Markis Weston, (eligible to return after 4 games). So why only 1 for [the] Jets today? Likely [because] those players count toward [the] max of 8 who can be designated to return from IR in a season,” Vasquez explained.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic called it a “notable” injury considering he wasn’t designated to return.
Cowart Was Projected to Be a Big Piece of the Jets Defense
This offseason, the Jets inked Cowart to a one-year $1.36 million contract. That also included $167,500 in total guarantees.
Gang Green’s strategy to fill the void at defensive tackle was with quantity instead of quality this offseason.
The Jets took multiple low-risk fliers on minimal contracts, hoping one of them would hit. Cowart seemed to fit that bill.
The Jets were set to be Cowart’s seventh NFL team over the last five years. Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic projected Cowart to be “the favorite” to start next to Quinnen Williams during training camp.
Now he will miss the entire 2025 season instead.
The Jets said in a press release that Cowart “sustained an injury early in camp.”
Injury News Answers Jets Trade Action
This news explains the flurry of activity from general manager Darren Mougey.
This Cowart injury news was surprising to fans, the media, and the general public, but it likely wasn’t a surprise to the team.
If they knew that the Cowart injury was more serious than those on the outside knew, that raised the need for defensive tackles to another level.
Last week, Mougey struck a pair of trades to bring in new defensive tackles: Harrison Phillips from the Minnesota Vikings and Jowon Briggs of the Cleveland Browns.
At the time, it seemed like the Jets were doubling down at a key position, but in reality, it was about them covering their cheeks because of a bigger injury than the public knew about.
Top Social Media Reactions to Cowart’s Brief Tenure With the Jets
Where were you for the Byron Cowart era,” Stephen Zantz asked on social media.
The quote that will be remembered most from the Cowart era was during his media availability.
“I feel like I’m in the Avengers right now,” Cowart said when talking about his new teammates on the defensive line.
Jets Lose Starter to Season-Ending Injury Months After Signing