Jets breakout preseason star facing uphill battle for roster spot in 2025

Everyone loves a good preseason star. For the New York Jets in 2024, that player was cornerback Jarrick Bernard-Converse, a former sixth-round pick who turned heads with a dominant August showing. But one year later, he finds himself fighting for his NFL future.

Despite being arguably the Jets' best player in last year’s preseason, Bernard-Converse barely saw the field in the regular season. Now, with a new coaching staff and a loaded cornerback depth chart ahead of him, the former college utility DB is firmly on the roster bubble.

Bernard-Converse has the talent and versatility to carve out a role in this Jets' defense, but that might not be enough this time around. The Jets’ cornerback room is deep, and his path to a roster spot is narrower than ever.

This is the second installment in a new series on The Jet Press, breaking down Jets roster bubble players ahead of training camp. Each piece will spotlight a different player fighting for a spot on the 53-man roster, continuing with Bernard-Converse's case.

Jarrick Bernard-Converse needs another strong preseason to make the Jets' roster

The Jets originally drafted Bernard-Converse in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL Draft after the Baton Rouge native impressed as a versatile defensive chess piece at Oklahoma State and later his hometown LSU.

The Jets experimented with him at safety during his rookie year, but an injury kept him sidelined for the first half of the season, and he played just four defensive snaps across eight total appearances. His impact was limited almost entirely to special teams.

Bernard-Converse returned to his natural position at cornerback in 2024 and exploded in the preseason. He was the Jets’ breakout star of the summer, plain and simple. His 92.4 overall Pro Football Focus grade led all 192 NFL cornerbacks who played at least 40 snaps in the preseason.

He also posted a league-best 92.3 PFF coverage grade, allowing just three catches for 51 yards on nine targets, with two pass breakups and a passer rating of only 53.5 when targeted. He added five run stops and looked every part of an NFL cornerback.

But that performance didn’t earn him an uptick in playing time in the regular season. Bernard-Converse was mostly a healthy scratch or special-teams contributor, logging just six defensive snaps across seven games. And entering 2025, his path to the 53-man roster is even more cluttered than it was a year ago.

The Jets’ top five cornerback spots are essentially locked in. Sauce Gardner and Brandon Stephens are the starters on the outside. Michael Carter II returns as the slot corner, with veteran Isaiah Oliver behind him. Rookie third-round pick Azareye’h Thomas is also guaranteed a roster spot.

That leaves Bernard-Converse fighting for one of the final CB spots alongside second-year standout Qwan’tez Stiggers, who played 14 games and started once last year, and new free-agent signing Kris Boyd, a core special teamer who brings added value due to his experience at cornerback.

Even with his 2024 preseason performance and versatility, Bernard-Converse is likely the seventh man on the depth chart at the moment, maybe even eighth, depending on how the team values Boyd.

He’ll need another dominant summer to force his way onto the roster, especially under a new defensive coaching staff led by former NFL DBs who weren’t around for last year’s preseason.

The good news for Bernard-Converse is that his versatility should give him the edge over players like Boyd and even Stiggers. Ideally, he could even push Oliver for a roster spot, but the veteran DB received a nearly fully guaranteed contract. He'll be on the 53-man roster.

If Bernard-Converse can carve out a role as a reliable swing defensive back and special teamer, he could make things difficult for the Jets’ decision-makers. That said, His margin for error is slim, and another preseason like last year might be the only thing that keeps him around.

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