NY Jets re-sign reserve safety Bennett Jackson

The NY Jets did a little housekeeping on Thursday making a pair of minor roster moves including the re-signing of veteran safety Bennett Jackson.

The Jets announced that they had re-signed Jackson who has spent the better part of the last two seasons with the organization. They also announced the signing of former Tennessee Titans offensive lineman Corey Levin.

Levin is a former sixth-round pick of the Titans and hasn’t played since the 2018 season. He spent a small portion of last year on the practice squad of the New England Patriots.

As for Jackson, he spent last year split between the practice squad, active roster, and injured reserve suiting up for four games, receiving exclusively special teams snaps.

The NY Jets added special-teams depth by retaining Bennett Jackson

Bennett Jackson has had a bit of an interesting NFL journey to this point. Somewhat incredibly, the former Notre Dame cornerback was actually a sixth-round pick of the New York Giants way back in the 2014 NFL Draft.

However, he wouldn’t play his first NFL game until the 2019 season when he took the field for the Baltimore Ravens. Half a decade passed between the day Jackson was drafted and the time he finally played in an NFL game.

Jackson spent his rookie season on the Giants’ practice squad before moving to safety in the offseason. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL in the 2015 preseason and was placed on IR.

The New Jersey native was released the following summer and spent all of 2016 and 2017 out of football. That was until the Ravens came calling and signed him to a futures deal in January of 2018.

Jackson was hurt in training camp and went on to spend the majority of the season on Baltimore’s practice squad. The following summer, he was released as part of final roster cuts and the Jets claimed him off waivers.

However, before he could ever appear in a game with the Jets, the Ravens signed him off New York’s practice squad. And that’s when he would finally make his NFL debut appearing in four games for the Ravens.

The Jets would claim him off waivers again in December and he would make two appearances with the team. Jackson was promoted to the Jets’ active roster the following November and he made four more appearances before being placed on IR.

In total, Jackson has played just 10 career games despite being drafted all the way back in 2014. And in those 10 games, he’s played a grand total of 27 defensive snaps — all of which came with the Ravens.

Jackson will turn 30-years-old in September and is nothing more than special-teams depth. The local New Jersey product will have to fight for a roster spot again in September.

Only time will tell if he could actually survive roster-cut day for the first time in his career.