Jets draft bust silenced his critics with breakout Week 1 performance

The New York Jets' offense overachieved in the team's 34-32 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 1. While the Jets ultimately fell short in their bid for Aaron Glenn's first victory, there were a lot of encouraging takeaways from the performance of the offense.

But while much of the attention will understandably go to the likes of Justin Fields, Breece Hall, and the offensive line, one player Jets fans wrote off before the season quietly put together one of his best games as a pro on Sunday.

Tight end Jeremy Ruckert played a very good football game against the Steelers. The former third-round pick hauled in two catches for 16 yards, playing 45% of the team's offensive snaps.

Both of Ruckert's catches resulted in Jets first downs, including one difficult grab the Ohio State product made in traffic. He also held his own as a blocker, playing a key role in helping the Jets limit Steelers All-Pro pass rusher T.J. Watt.

The box score numbers may not jump out — and the bar has been set relatively low — but this was one of the best games of Ruckert's NFL career. That's a very promising takeaway, given where his stock was prior to the start of the season.

Jeremy Ruckert impressed for the Jets in their Week 1 loss to the Steelers

Ruckert’s 82.9 Pro Football Focus receiving grade was the best single-game mark of his Jets career. He also impressed as a pass-blocker, earning a 71.4 grade and not allowing a single pressure on his three pass-block snaps.

The Jets also deployed Ruckert as a situational run-blocker throughout the game, often aiding rookie right tackle Armand Membou with chip blocks on Watt. The All-Pro edge rusher recorded just one pressure in Sunday's game.

The Jets' offensive coaching staff deserves credit for an outstanding game plan that mitigated Watt's effectiveness, but so too does Ruckert, who did his part. This was the version of Ruckert the Jets have been wanting to see for years.

The Long Island native was selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL Draft with the hope that he could develop into the team's tight end of the future, but going into his fourth pro season now, that hasn't exactly happened.

Ruckert has failed to make an impact as a receiver, recording just 35 receptions for 264 yards through three seasons. And despite earning a reputation as a "blocking tight end," Ruckert has frequently graded out as one of the worst run-blockers in the NFL.

The Lindenhurst product was even thought to be on the roster bubble this summer, despite technically entering training camp as the de facto TE1 on the team's unofficial depth chart.

The Jets will use plenty of rookie Mason Taylor in 2025, evidenced by the fact that he played 88% of the team's offensive snaps, but if Ruckert is putting together games like this, he absolutely deserves a role in the offense as well.

The new Jets coaching staff faces the challenge of maximizing the talent on this roster and squeezing every bit out of the group they have. Ruckert’s unexpected Week 1 resurgence is early proof that they’re already on the right track.

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