Braxton Berrios set to take punt return job for the Jets

Wide receiver Braxton Berrios was one of four players the Jets claimed off waivers over the weekend. Along with the corresponding cut of wide receiver Greg Dortch, the assumption has been that Berrios will claim the punt return job for the Jets in the opener against the Buffalo Bills.

On Monday head coach Adam Gase confirmed this and offered some insight on what the Jets saw in Berrios.

On if Berrios will be the primary punt returner…

Yeah.

On Berrios skillset...

He’s a guy that, historically coming out of college, was really good at getting open in the slot. He’s had good experience as far as punt returner goes. There’s a lot of confidence there. I do think that, especially when we worked him out – we were able to on our Miami day down there and he was a guy that we actually spent a little more time with. We were excited to kind of see how the draft went and see what happened there. We were in a unique position because we did have a lot of guys in the wideout spot that weren’t going anywhere and he was a guy that we were really interested in. So, kind of the way this has worked out it’ll be interesting because he was a guy we wanted to work with.

On the decision to cut Greg Dortch and sign Braxton Berrios...

Yeah, we felt like this was a good opportunity for us. It was somebody that we, especially a lot of guys on this staff that were in Miami, had a lot of exposure to him in the past. Obviously, when you’re a guy that’s played in New England, it’s kind of a similar system. This is kind of a break off of what they’ve done. Just with my time with Josh (McDaniels), he’s influenced me a lot in my career as far as what we do offensively. So, when you’re a guy that’s played in that offense, there’s a fit with our offense.

Berrios was a sixth round pick by New England last year.

It is a reminder that scouting reports aren’t deleted on Draft day. Even when your team doesn’t get a player, sometimes you remember him down the road once he becomes available.