Why the NY Jets can't afford to lose safety Marcus Maye

The NY Jets' secondary lacks experience

To say the NY Jets' cornerback corps is green (pun intended) would be the understatement of the summer.

With Brian Poole gone, the starters include the likes of Blessuan Austin, Bryce Hall, and Javelin Guidry. Respectively, those are 5th and 6th rounders starting on the outside, with an unproven former undrafted free agent as the starting slot cornerback.

Playing against Stefon Diggs and Jaylen Waddle twice a year will not be pretty, and a cornerback corps that bleak will likely take multiple offseasons to fix.

Therein lies the reason why Maye's presence is so crucial to this team — as the deep safety, he makes up for the cornerbacks around him.

In terms of other safeties, the Jets also have former track star Ashtyn Davis, who posted an abysmal 53.0 PFF grade this past year. Add in an aging Lamarcus Joyner, and the safety room is still sorely lacking.

With a good pass rush, a bad defensive backfield could potentially be masked. But this is not a pass rush that has proven itself as a unit yet.

Sure, there are a few great players on the defensive line. But a team cannot just completely neglect the secondary because they signed a good defensive end and defensive tackle in the offseason. And letting Maye could would be doing exactly that.

Ultimately, removing Maye from the secondary without replacing him with a player of at least equal caliber would be disastrous for this defense.