Jets aren't even trying to address their Nahshon Wright free agency whiff

Even with the market for the “what happened to” stories involving your athlete of choice, we’re not sure New York Jets cornerback Nahshon Wright will eventually earn his own documentary.

Jets fans are instead wondering why the 28-year-old Wright, who led the NFL in takeaways last year, is still on the active roster. He’s been a healthy scratch each of the last four weeks, and all 18 snaps he played before then came on special teams. There haven’t been any reports about him battling injuries or landing in Aaron Glenn’s doghouse.

We can’t even say Wright has vanished, because he’s still on the 53-man roster as dead weight. What’s the point in keeping him around if he has no short-term future on a 2-4 Jets team?

New York Jets must finally release or trade veteran cornerback Nahshon Wright

As we recently argued, the idea that Wright would immediately fix the Jets’ turnover issues was always a fallacy. But few expected him to be a complete non-factor, even before promising rookie D’Angelo Ponds returned from a calf injury.

The Jets gave Wright a fully guaranteed $3.5 million deal with incentives this past offseason, and we somewhat understand not wanting to admit defeat … except Glenn and Darren Mougey already waved the white flag. You don’t give someone that much money only to start making him a healthy scratch two games in.

So why haven’t the Jets parted ways with Wright? That’s a question we’d love to hear Mougey answer, because he approved signing the Pro Bowl corner. Even if Glenn potentially saw Wright playing a backup role, that still doesn’t explain his lack of defensive snaps. 

The Jets don’t need to be stubborn and ride it out with Wright, not when they have three corners — Mory Bamba, Jordan Clark, and Samuel Womack III — on the practice squad. They’re better off eating the money by releasing him or finding a suitor willing to give up a seventh-round pick, though the former scenario feels more plausible.

As for Ponds, he played 13 snaps (11 on defense and two on special teams) during Sunday’s loss to the Patriots. The 2025 All-American still hasn’t made a significant impact, though he had an interception called back in Week 4. How long before he finally grabs a pick and makes it count — and we mean that in more ways than one.

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