A former New York Jets player was Mr. Popularity on Tuesday, August 31.
According to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network, tight end Trevon Wesco was “the most popular” NFL player on the waiver wire.
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Didn’t See That One Coming
The former West Virginia product was released by the Jets during final roster cuts. With only three years of service time, the 26-year-old was subject to the waiver wire process.
The order for said waiver wire is based on the 2022 NFL draft. According to Rapoport, Wesco was claimed by four NFL teams, which was the most in the league for any individual player:
- Chicago Bears (No. 7 priority)
- Cleveland Browns (No. 13 priority)
- Indianapolis Colts (No. 16 priority)
- Cincinnati Bengals (No. 31 priority)
In other words the worse you were last season, the better your odds of landing a player that was cut by another team. Since the Bears had the worst record of the four, they were awarded Wesco.
He originally entered the league as the No. 121 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft. During his short career in the NFL thus far, Wesco’s statistics are marginal and unimpressive.
However, he has developed a reputation as a really good blocker and that is a very attractive quality in the big leagues.
Decision Behind Decision
The Jets have had a terrible tight-end situation for over a decade. However, this offseason was set to be different and it proved to be.
Gang Green ended up keeping four tight ends on the final roster in CJ Uzomah, Tyler Conklin, Jeremy Ruckert, and Lawrence Cager.
The first three on that list were absolute locks to make the roster by contract status or draft pick investment.
However what they were going to do at that fourth spot, if they even decided to keep that many, was up for debate.
Ultimately the staff decided Cager provided a unique skill set that they didn’t have on the roster and quite frankly he had a damn good training camp:
“He earned his way and has proven to be a problem [as a mismatch nightmare],” Jets head coach Robert Saleh explained to the media. “A big credit to him for creating a unique skill set that is different than what you see with CJ, Conklin, and Ruckert. When we looked at that fourth spot and the versatility and what could you bring that could be different? It was just going with Cager.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh joked w/ Lawrence Cager (@lawrencecager3) that he went from being a ‘slow WR to a fast TE’ 🤣 + ‘credit to him, he’s not a liability in run game’ + ‘creating a unique skill set’ that is different than other TEs in room: 🎥 @nyjets #TakeFlight
Cager is a fun project and a tantalizing prospect for the future, however, the blocking aspect of his game is a legitimate concern. Saleh said that he isn’t a “liability” in that area but it is hard not to be after learning the position seven months ago.
With Wesco on a new team and fullback Nick Bawden out for the year, the Jets don’t have a true blocker on the roster. There is some optimism that Ruckert can help fill that role, but Saleh recently said he is behind the eight-ball due to his nagging foot injury and lack of reps this offseason.
Wesco wasn’t a sexy name among the fans, but we will see if the Jets end up regretting that decision if a blocker doesn’t arise among the ranks this season.
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