Jets Roster Cuts Thoughts

The Jets announced their first 53 man roster of the 2015 season. It will not be their final roster. Expect things to start changing within the next 24 hours as the team can put in claims on players cut from other teams. What are some of the things that stick out?

Quarterback Cutdown: The Jets cut both Matt Flynn and Josh Johnson. That leaves Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty as the only healthy quarterbacks on the roster. The cuts create more questions than answers. Are the Jets doing this as some speculated because they do not want to guarantee an entire season worth of salary to a veteran quarterback on the Week 1 roster as they would be required to do? Does this mean Geno Smith is healing quicker than anticipated? Todd Bowles on just Monday said Geno is not practicing at full speed. Does it mean they were unimpressed by Flynn and Johnson to the point they want a different veteran? Will they trust Petty to be the backup against the Browns next week? We will have to wait to find the answers to all of these questions.

Tight End Crunch: In the aftermath of Jace Amaro's injury, the Jets only kept two tight ends, Jeff Cumberland and Kellen Davis. It seems like the Jets are going to add somebody another team dumps. Forget about the idea of Quincy Enunwa as a tight end. Enunwa was one of only five wide receivers the team kept, and Devin Smith is not healthy yet.

Offensive Line Overflow: The offensive line is one of the team's weakest units both in terms of starters and depth. It thus was interesting to see the Jets keep 10 offensive linemen. If you count players on the suspended and PUP lists, almost 20% of the players the Jets currently employ are offensive linemen. This is strange due to the shortage of quality. It will be interesting to see whether linemen are the first people out when the Jets add players off the waiver wire.

Who Returns?: The Jets cut their two most logical options for return men, Chris Owusu and Walter Powell. Jeremy Kerley will likely resume duties as punt returner, but kickoff returner is up the air.

What would you have done?: I would have kept Jason Babin over Trevor Reilly. I think Reilly has marginal upside, and he was inconsistent in the preseason. I also would have kept Owusu and Powell. I would have found two among the group of Dakota Dozier, Brent Qvale, Darrin Walls, Deon Simon, Brian Winters, Jarvin Harrison, or Dexter McDougle to cut. I thought the two guys I mentioned earned their spots. I'm not THAT upset, though. These were players without high Draft pedigrees who have never accomplished anything in the NFL. They were playing against backups. There are reasons for all of these things.

What would you have done?