NY Jets officially place five players on injured reserve

The NY Jets have officially placed five players on injured reserve including a pair of rookies.

The NY Jets continued the process of finalizing their roster on Monday placing five players on the injured reserve. These moves coincided with the re-signing of four players who the team had released this past weekend.

The likes of Josh Andrews, Daniel Brown, Nate Hairston, and Matthias Farley were all re-signed to the active roster while the Jets placed rookies Jabari Zuniga and Cameron Clark, receivers Vyncint and Jeff Smith, and linebacker Patrick Onwuasor on the injured reserve.

It should be noted that players placed on the IR (or any reserve list for that matter) are eligible to return after just three weeks this year per the NFL’s new rule changes.

That’s allowed the Jets — and plenty of other teams — to place players, who may have normally taken up a roster spot, on the IR as a short-term stashing tool. That’s likely the case for the majority of the players above.

Zuniga dealt with a quad injury throughout much of the summer, but returned to practice just prior to the end of training camp. He likely won’t be out for too long. The same goes for guys like Vyncint Smith and Jeff Smith who are in line to return possibly by the end of the month.

Onwuasor and Clark are both dealing with knee injuries and it’s unclear how serious the latter’s is. But by all accounts, there’s nothing that would lead anyone to believe that it’s season-ending.

Expect all five of these players to have relatively short stays on the injured reserve.

As a result of these roster moves, the Jets were able to bring back four veterans who they had previously cut. This was likely the plan all along with guys like Andrews and Farley occupying pretty key depth roles on the roster.

The NY Jets have one open roster spot as a result of these moves.

It should also be noted that the Jets now have one open active roster spot and one open practice squad spot to fill. Expect that to be done before Week 1, possibly in the form of an outside addition.

A host of players visited with the Jets on Monday including recently-released wide receiver Hakeem Butler and veteran linebacker Alec Ogletree. It’s possible that one or both could join the team in the coming days.

Don’t rule out the Jets promoting a player from their practice squad either before Week 1. Teams are permitted to promote two players on game day to form a 55-man roster, but they also have that empty roster spot to fill.

While it’s a shame to see guys like Zuniga and Clark land on injured reserve, none of the moves were unexpected. And unlike most seasons, being placed on the IR isn’t necessarily going to wipe out half your season or more.

Instead, it’s a temporary holding pool where teams are allowed to return an unlimited number of players.

In all likelihood, we’ll see each of these players return before the midway point of the season — most likely even sooner.