New York Jets 2019: Ranking the 53-man roster — #39 Darryl Roberts

As another lost New York Jets season unfolds, it’s time to evaluate this 53-man roster from top to bottom. Here’s the full report on Darryl Roberts.

The last New York Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan swooped in with one of his finest personnel moves, right after the New England Patriots cut ties with Darryl Roberts, their 2016 seventh-round pick (247th overall) who got let go after enduring a season-ending injury in his first preseason game.

Roberts proved himself a durable, hard-nosed scheme fit. He developed into one of the Jets’ top secondary-men of 2018 —  the team’s best tackler played in all 16 games.

Roberts’ greatest asset may be his versatility, as much of his 2018 campaign was as a capable stand-in for safety Marcus Maye.

But the Marshall product was never a top-flight starter — so it was inane for the previous regime to pay him $6 million annually over three years, and expect elite production in return.

No thanks to his 2019 cornerback pairing with $72 million washout Trumaine Johnson, Roberts got exposed early and often during the Jets brutal start to this Jets’ season, and then he spent the remainder of the year dealing with a bad calf pull. When Jamal Adams went down with late-season injury, Darryl excelled as his replacement in deep coverage.

Joe Douglas is correct in his desire to remake the Jets secondary. One possible course of action would be to sign or draft another backup safety to pair in reserve with Roberts, so as to allow more quality depth in the complete overhaul of the cornerback situation.

#53 Trumaine Johnson     #52 Ryan Kalil      #51 Kelechi Osemele      #50 Quinnen Williams    #49 Chuma Edoga     #48 Frankie Luvu      #47 Sam Ficken     #46 Nate Hairston     #45 Brandon Shell     #44  Jordan Willis     #43 Vyncint Smith     #42 Kyron Brown     #41 Bilal Powell