Aaron Glenn preaches patience with D'Angelo Ponds amid Jarvis Brownlee's struggles

New York Jets cornerback Jarvis Brownlee Jr. was easily one of the worst players on the field this past Sunday against the Las Vegas Raiders. In fact, he received the lowest grade from Pro Football Focus, with a grade of 32.1, according to The Jet Press' own Justin Fried.

It's led to a multitude of questions regarding the Jets and their No. 50 overall pick in this past April's draft, cornerback D'Angelo Ponds. Why has a player, taken with a second-round draft pick, been sequestered to the sidelines for this long?

Yes, a calf injury derailed Ponds' summer. It forced him to miss valuable development time in both training camp and the preseason, but we're in November now. Is the Indiana product really not ready for increased reps at this point?

Ask any Jets fan, and they would almost assuredly rather see Ponds taking his lumps as a rookie than whatever they're getting from Brownlee at this point, but head coach Aaron Glenn continues to ask folks to be patient with his development.

Aaron Glenn says D'Angelo Ponds is 'going to get his shot' for the New York Jets

At Glenn's Wednesday press conference, the head coach was asked about Ponds' slim playing time, and whether or not the rookie would find himself on the field more, particularly in the wake of Brownlee's struggles.

"We can only play so many people. You see that across the league a number of hot picks... [Fernando] Mendoza hasn’t played at all. We have some other good players on the team... he’s going to get his shot. He’s a damn good player; we all know that. Just be patient and give him a little time... He’s going to get a shot to play."

It feels like Glenn and the Jets' coaching staff are still not satisfied with where Ponds is at for an expanded role on the defense, but the fact of the matter is, it's just time.

At 2-6, New York's season is virtually over, and we're hitting that point in the season where it's time to start playing guys who have a future with the team. Brownlee, especially after some of the disciplinary issues he's had this year, should not be playing over Ponds.

Through eight games, Ponds has only played 15% of the Jets' defensive snaps. Over the final half of the regular season, let's hope to see that number increase exponentially.

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