New York Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr was a healthy scratch in Week 7 against the Miami Dolphins. After Hunter Henry scored a wide-open touchdown in the New England Patriots game the week before, Brownlee curiously didn’t play another snap.
Head coach Aaron Glenn denied that Brownlee was taken out of the game after that error. He also refused to explain why Brownlee didn’t play last week despite being healthy.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini got the answers from Brownlee in the locker room.
He got benched and fined by the team for missing “multiple mandatory meetings”, he told ESPN.
“No doubt, no doubt,” Brownlee told Cimini. “Just accountability.” ‘Asked why he missed the meetings, Brownlee said, “It was just something in-house, some things I had to get right.” Brownlee said he couldn’t recall the amount of the fine, except to say he was notified in a letter from the team. He said he missed “more than one” meeting, adding that he understood the discipline.’
Brownlee told Cimini that he is “good” for this week. That suggests he will be active on Sunday for the Week 8 Las Vegas Raiders game.
Something to Watch
On the “Jets Collective” podcast, Cimini explained why he doesn’t think Brownlee is long for New York.
“I would not be shocked if somehow they cut or traded Jarvis Brownlee Jr,” Cimini said on the podcast.
Before we actually found out Brownlee was benched for disipline reasons, Cimini was able to put on his investigate journalism hat.
On Monday after the Dolphins game Cimini asked Glenn why Brownlee was benched. Glenn responded, “We’re going to keep that in house.”
Cimini said “right away the alarm bells went off” so he followed up by asking Glenn if this was discpline related. Glenn once again responded, “We’re going to keep that in house.”
“So it’s obviously disipline related. I think from what I’ve been told it’s been kind of building for a few weeks,” Cimini shared on the podcast.
After Brownlee was traded to the Jets from the Tennessee Titans, I reached out to several people who covered the team. I asked them what went wrong in Tennessee. They told me that there was immaturity and disipline issues. It seems like those ghosts from the past are coming back to haunt him and the Jets.
Jets Are Motivated to Make a Change
These recent issues with Brownlee are a perfect excuse for the Jets to make a change that they wanted to make anyway.
With the 50th overall pick in the second round of April’s draft they selected Indiana defensive back D’Angelo Ponds. Second round picks are premium assets that are supposed to turn into starters.
For a variety of reasons that hasn’t played out with Ponds. He had injury issues during training camp that forced him to miss serious time. Plus the players that were healthy have been playing well. So Ponds hasn’t had a path to playing time.
With Brownlee’s problems, there is now a clear opportunity for Ponds to get on the field.
Jets Starter Put on Notice With Benching After Missed Meetings