NY Jets place outside linebacker Frankie Luvu on injured reserve

The NY Jets have placed outside linebacker Frankie Luvu on injured reserve.

The NY Jets have added another player to an injured reserve list that had been shrinking in recent weeks. But the addition of outside linebacker Frankie Luvu will prevent it from shrinking any further for the time being.

The Jets announced on Tuesday that they had placed Luvu on IR after he injured his groin in Sunday’s 24-0 loss to the Miami Dolphins.

Luvu originally entered the league as an undrafted free agent back in 2018 and has spent the last three seasons serving as a rotational pass-rusher and special-teamer with the Jets.

He saw his most success and playing time come in his rookie season when he amassed three sacks in 14 games including his first and so far only NFL start.

Since then, his playing time dipped in 2019 where he only tallied one sack in 13 games and that trend has continued this season where he’s been almost completely phased out of the defensive gameplan.

Luvu has received more than four defensive snaps in just two games this season. This past week, he was on the field for just three defensive snaps before exiting the game in the fourth quarter.

The Washington State product did play 24 percent of defensive snaps in Week 1 and 35 percent in Week 5, but he has mostly been an afterthought on defense this season.

Where he has made an impact, however, is on special teams. Luvu remains one of the Jets’ core special-teamers with only three players receiving a higher percentage of special-teams snaps than Luvu’s 71 percent.

With Frankie Luvu on IR, the NY Jets now have two open roster spots.

This means that the Jets now have two open spots on the active roster following the departure of Steve McLendon and Luvu’s placement on IR. Look for the Jets to perhaps fill those two spots with a pair of players who could return from IR in the near future.

A host of rookies could be returning from injuries very shortly with third-round pick Jabari Zuniga almost a certainty. Zuniga was designated to return two weeks ago meaning that the Jets only have a week to activate him before he would be declared out for the season.

Expect him to be activated soon, very possibly before this Sunday.

As for the other spot, the Jets have also designated the likes of Denzel Mims, Cameron Clark, and Arthur Maulet to return so it’s likely that one or more of them are given spots on the active roster very soon.

Mims would certainly provide the biggest impact and head coach Adam Gase seemed cautiously optimistic that he could return on Sunday when speaking to reporters.

Luvu will be eligible to be activated from injured reserve in three weeks.