4 forgotten NY Jets players who can make a difference in 2023

It's June, so almost all of the discussions about the upcoming NY Jets season are combinations of speculation, hearsay, and predictions. Unfortunately, we don't yet know what will happen this year, but that simple truth won't stop us from trying to predict and assess all possible scenarios.

In this article, we're going to look at a few possibilities that all like quite unlikely at this point of the offseason, but unlikely things happen all the time.

Who would've predicted Zach Wilson to get worse as the season progressed last year? What about the Jets having a historical turnaround on defense? We may have all been thrown for a loop with Elijah Moore's curious usage and subsequent trade request after all the success he had as a rookie.

So we know unexpected things happen! Let's look at four Jets players who were completely forgotten, irrelevant, or seemingly non-existent that may be key pieces for the team this year.

4. Michael Carter, RB, NY Jets

Michael Carter entered the 2022 season as the Jets' starting running back and ended it as the third-string running back behind undrafted rookie Zonovan Knight and 2019 sixth-rounder (who is no longer on the team) Ty Johnson. That fact alone would imply a fall of massive proportions last year.

He had 964 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns as a rookie on a team that was bottom-10 in just about every single offensive metric that year. With more reinforcements in year two, the expectation was an even better sophomore campaign for the guy who led the entire NFL in most missed tackles forced per carry in 2021.

Even with Breece Hall, the expectation was a two-headed rushing attack where Hall would be explosive, and Carter would continue being one of the toughest backs in the league to tackle. Hall ran away with RB1 duties, but Carter still proved to be effective.

Perhaps the best example of this duo was in Week 5 against the Miami Dolphins when Hall out-touched Carter 20 to 12 and had more highlight-worthy plays, but Carter scored twice as many touchdowns and had one of the best celebrations of the Jets season.

Despite Hall's dominance, the coaching staff still recognized Carter's innate ability to break tackles and fight for extra yardage.

In Carter's four starts after Hall's devastating knee injury, he had a pretty solid performance against the Buffalo Bills (6.3 yards per carry, one touchdown) sandwiched in between two awful performances against the New England Patriots (3.0 yards per carry, zero touchdowns) before getting injured against Chicago.

In his return from injury against Buffalo, he made a big play for a first down that was instantly erased by coughing up his first career fumble and arguably losing the Jets the game with that gaffe.

From there, he rode the pine for the majority of the season. Was he still playing hurt? Had he regressed as badly as his fellow sophomore Zach Wilson? What happened?

Carter will have every bit of opportunity to answer those questions to his coaches (both the old and the new) as they enter this 2023 season with sky-high aspirations.

With his experience and well-documented locker room popularity, he's probably the early favorite to split carries with Hall again to start the season as Hall works his way back from his ACL injury.

If Carter shows that toughness we saw in 2021 and the flashes displayed in 2022 pre-injury, then there will be no room for Zonovan Knight or 2023 rookie Israel Abanikanda to usurp the role from him.

Looking at the running back usage in Hackett's system in Denver last year or Rodgers's career with Matt LaFleur, they both like to implement a running back committee, so there will certainly be room for multiple running backs to eat this year.

Don't be surprised if it's the veteran of the group Michael Carter, and he reclaims his spot as not only a tough runner with pass-catching skills but the tackle-breaker that the team uses at the goal line.

3. Bryce Hall, CB, NY Jets

There was a time when Joe Douglas drafted Bryce Hall in the fifth round of the 2020 NFL Draft and it was widely considered a steal because of Hall's elite skill set and tape that slid down the board due to injuries.

It took him a while to get healthy, but in Robert Saleh's first year as head coach, Hall was the CB1 for the team and performed admirably against the likes of Stefon Diggs, A.J. Brown, and Ja'Marr Chase.

At this point last year, Hall was third in the entire NFL in most incompletions forced since 2020. Fans nicknamed him 'The Hall Monitor,' but evidently, Saleh and the Jets brass weren't too impressed. They drafted superstar cornerback Sauce Gardner fourth overall in the 2022 draft and signed a Saleh-favorite, D.J. Reed, in the offseason as well.

Hall started 2022 training camp as CB4 after those guys (Michael Carter II was CB3 in the slot), but struggled mightily in the preseason, had an especially bad showing in the Atlanta Falcons game, and lost his CB4 role to Brandin Echols, who retained that role all season.

At 25 years old, this is the last year of Hall's rookie deal — he is essentially playing for a second contract in the league. He's still buried on the depth chart, but one unavoidable occurrence in football is injury.

Last season, the Jets suffered no major injuries on the defensive side of the ball, so while everyone would hope that remains the same this year, it is almost a mathematical certainty that it will not.

An injury to any of the players in front of him would mean more snaps for Hall, and the player that seized his top reserve role will be missing Week 1 for a suspension.

Can Hall do what fellow 2020 draft pick Denzel Mims hasn't been able to do and somehow earn the respect and consistent opportunities of this current coaching staff?

If he does find his way back onto the field, will he continue his dominance in forcing incompletions? Or will the 'difference-making' play stated in the title of this article refer to him getting burned by Travis Kelce or Dallas Goeddert the way he was burned badly by Kyle Pitts in last year's preseason?

We obviously hope it's the former, but if anyone goes down get prepared for either possibility.

2. Jamien Sherwood, LB, NY Jets

The Robert Saleh/Joe Douglas regime made two late draft picks in 2021 to try to find players that fit their mold of intangibles required and physical capabilities to try to develop into elite talent.

Both fifth-round selection Jamien Sherwood and sixth-round selection Hamsah Nasirildeen were college safeties that were drafted and immediately groomed to become linebackers at the next level.

Sherwood was specifically compared to two-time first-team All-Pro Fred Warner by his own head coach before ever playing a regular season so let's just say he made quite the impression in the 2021 offseason. He actually played fairly well throughout that season until he tore his Achilles in Week 7 of his rookie season.

In 2022, Saleh continued the Sherwood hype train calling him the 'Florham Park Strangler,' but the surprising resurgence of free-agent veteran addition Kwon Alexander kept Sherwood in mostly a reserve role this past season.

Now in June, Alexander is still a free agent who may or may not be brought back to the team. If he isn't, then Sherwood is first in line to retake the role that seemed like his in 2021, back when the Jets were sporting the league's worst defense.

With the defensive turnaround in 2022 and now the lofty goals that comes with an Aaron Rodgers acquisition, does Saleh still love his pet project, or is there an added need for a veteran presence out on the field?

It looks like the Jets may be headed toward the former, which means that Sherwood would have a golden opportunity to be a consistent difference-maker for this team all season.

1. Jeremy Ruckert, TE, NY Jets

For all of the love that the exalted 2022 NY Jets draft class gets for their very quick production in year one, that same admiration cannot be shared with third-round draftee Jeremy Ruckert.

He is the only 2022 draftee to be a healthy scratch for more than one game and the only draftee to play less than 200 snaps this past season (101). To put Ruckert's 101 snaps last season into perspective, Breece Hall played 233 snaps in the seven games he played before tearing his Achilles.

A sound argument can be made that Ruckert was the most forgotten man on the whole roster last season, largely in part to the two veterans that the Jets signed in the same offseason to play the same position.

While Tyler Conklin played rather well during the season, C.J. Uzomah was used mostly as a blocker. Uzomah's skill set is most suited in the passing game, which we perhaps saw come to fruition toward the end of last season. The offensive line was ravaged by injuries, and the dual-tight end sets made no impact on the Jets' non-existent ability to block for their ball carriers.

Of course, the threat of injury always looms, but even if all three tight ends stay healthy it's possible Ruckert earns himself some real playing time in 2023.

With a strong camp, he could leapfrog Uzomah and not only become the go-to blocker in that room but also push Conklin for some receiving opportunities as well. It'd be quite the step up for the guy who only played an offensive snap in two games last year.

In his initial NFL scouting report, Ruckert's run-blocking was highly touted, but his receiving work was a polarizing topic because he wasn't used much on a team that boasted wide receivers like Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave, and Jaxon Smith-Njigba. As it stands now, this might be the exact way his 2023 campaign with the Jets turns out.

Of course, there is always the possibility that he breaks out this year, especially as he benefits from the ubiquitous presence of future Hall-of-Famer Aaron Rodgers.

A lot of the osmosis and such that will be absorbed in the building by Rodgers' presence will be felt most intensely by the young and more impressionable guys.

His NFL comparison was Dalton Schulz, the fourth-round 2018 draft pick who was also known for his blocking coming into the league but had questions about his receiving ability.

For what it's worth, Schultz has had three consecutive seasons with more than 550 yards, four or more touchdowns, and 55+ catches. Conklin's stats this year: 58 catches, 552 yards, and three touchdowns.

What a dream it'd be for the entire Ruckert family to see Jeremy ascend to new heights in a Jets uniform and make a tangible difference in such an important season.