New York Jets CB DJ Reed ruled out of Broncos game

DJ Reed has been one of the best free agency additions in recent memory, but the Jets will have to do without the services of their CB this weekend with the former Seahawk being ruled out with a concussion.

This presents a considerable problem for the Jets, who will also be without corner Brandin Echols due to a hamstring injury. Heading into Denver to race a rejuvenated Russell Wilson, the Jets will have to come up with a plan B.

Tomorrow’s game in Denver is as close to a must-win game as you get at this point of the season. With the Eagles heading into NJ next week you want to be sitting at 2-3 with the chance to get to .500 before the bye week, but beating the Eagles is no easy task, considering nobody has managed it through the first four weeks of the season.

So what are the Jets going to do in the secondary?

Robert Saleh was asked about the plan heading into Denver and he made an interesting comment about “moving people around”.

“We will see. We have a plan,” Saleh said. He later added: “I have confidence in all the DBs. Whether it is moving people around, however, we have to shuffle it. We have a lot of guys who have played a lot of football in this league and have played at a very high level. So, we will be fine.”

The Jets have two options

The obvious option is to just have Bryce Hall play as the outside corner. Hall has been largely forgotten over the last two years playing just 14 coverage snaps on defense.

Back in 2021, he was the starting outside corner and registered 14 PBU’s, but also 6 touchdowns. He’s played 4 snaps so far this year being targeted once and allowing a 15 yard completion.

The other option is to move the highly impressive Michael Carter II outside and play someone else in the slot.

That someone could be safety Adrian Amos who has over 800 career snaps as a slot cornerback. With Tony Adams returning to the fold after missing the last two games, that opens up the possibility of one of them moving to slot corner. Adams played that position over the last two years for the Jets, recording 61 snaps.

The problem with that plan isn’t the safety who will move down to cover the slot, it’s more about Michael Carter II, and him having just 12 snaps outside during his time in the NFL. He did have over 600 snaps of experience there at Duke, but defending outside receivers in the ACC and outside receivers in the NFL is very different.