5 surprise NY Jets players on the roster bubble this summer

The NY Jets did an excellent job this offseason of not only bolstering the overall talent on their roster, but also adding depth to the team. This is the deepest and most talented roster the Jets have boasted in over half a decade, at least on paper.

Following an injury-riddled 2021 campaign, general manager Joe Douglas saw the need to upgrade the Jets' depth, and that's exactly what he did this offseason.

But while that depth is certainly an overall positive for the organization, it might spell trouble for certain members of the roster. Simply put, the Jets are going to have to make some difficult decisions.

There are a few players who enter the summer on the roster bubble that many might assume are safe. Let's take a look at five surprise Jets fighting for roster spots this summer.

5. Justin Hardee, CB, NY Jets

The Jets signed veteran Justin Hardee to a three-year, $6.75 million contract last offseason with the presumption that they had landed one of the league's premier special-teams players.

And while Hardee did prove to be a staple of the special teams unit in 2021, there were some glaring errors mixed in with his positive contributions. That's not to say he's not still valuable, but the Jets probably expected more given that his sole contributions came on special teams.

Going into the 2022 season, the Jets don't really have the luxury of keeping around exclusively special-teams players unless they provide that much value in that area of the game.

Hardee has no remaining guarantees left in his contract and the Jets could free up over $2 million in cap space by releasing him. He'll have to prove his worth to Brant Boyer and the rest of the coaching staff this summer.