New York Jets should take a flier on edge rusher Shane Ray

The New York Jets recently had former Denver Broncos first-round pick Shane Ray in for a tryout. Given the state of the team’s pass-rushers, the Jets should absolutely take a flier on him.

The New York Jets have dealt with countless injuries and suspensions thus far in their young season. While not talked about as much, the Jets edge-rushers have taken a big hit and the team could call on Shane Ray to help alleviate those concerns.

Much of the focus this season has gone to the absences of players like Sam Darnold, C.J. Mosley, and Quinnen Williams — and with good reason too. But seemingly lost in the shuffle has been the turnover at outside linebacker.

It started when projected starter Brandon Copeland was suspended for the first four weeks of the season for violating the league’s PED policy. Soon after, the Jets cut third-round rookie Jachai Polite before he ever took the field in a regular-season game.

That left a major hole at one edge-rusher spot, a hole that it was unclear who would fill. And things were made even worse when Jordan Jenkins went down with a calf injury in the team’s Week 2 loss to the Cleveland Browns.

Now, without Jenkins and Copeland, the Jets have been left with the likes of Harvey Langi, Tarell Basham, and Frankie Luvu seeing meaningful snaps. Out of the three, it has been Basham who’s shown the most promise, but the depth chart is, indeed, looking very barren at the moment.

As a result, the Jets held tryouts on Tuesday as the team brought in six edge rushers to potentially fill the void left by injury and suspension. Of the six players, the most notable was former first-round pick Shane Ray.

Ray was originally drafted 23rd overall in the 2015 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos. The Missouri product was once seen as a top-10 draft prospect after a stellar 2014 season that saw him win SEC Defensive Player of the Year.

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However, an arrest three days prior to the draft for marijuana possession saw his stock take a tumble. Still, there was reason to be excited about the prospects of his NFL future.

And after a rookie season spent as a reserve in which he totaled four sacks, the Broncos decided that it was time to increase his snaps in his second season.

That increased playing time worked wonders as Ray finished with a career-high eight sacks in 16 games (eight starts) including an impressive three-sack performance in September of 2016.

Unfortunately, this would be the height of Ray’s career as the injuries would begin to pile up. Ray would play in only eight games the following season after tearing a ligament in his wrist that summer.

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That wrist injury would mar the remainder of his time in Denver as he would end up undergoing a total of four different procedures related to his wrist. Ray would record just two sacks over his final two seasons with the Broncos never appearing fully healthy.

Denver declined his fifth-year option and Ray signed on with the Baltimore Ravens this summer before being released as a part of final roster cuts.

When healthy, Ray has proven that he’s capable of getting to the passer at an efficient rate. But even so, his career has been defined just as much by the term “one-year wonder” as it has been by injuries.

Ray really only had that one incredible year of production while at Missouri and the same goes for his one solid season in the NFL. Be it because of injuries or whatever, Ray simply hasn’t been able to string together consecutive productive seasons.

That said, the Jets could certainly use a player with his natural talents given the state of their edge-rusher depth chart at the moment. Even deploying him as a situational pass-rusher could do the trick and assist a lackluster outside linebacker core.

If the Jets are set on taking a flier on a free-agent pass rusher, they could do a lot worse than bringing in Shane Ray.