'High unlikely' NY Jets WR Elijah Moore plays on Sunday

Justin Fried

NY Jets, Elijah Moore / Carmen Mandato/GettyImages

The NY Jets have seen the emergence of rookie wide receiver Elijah Moore in recent weeks. Unfortunately, they might be forced to play without their top wideout on Sunday.

Moore was held out of practice on Wednesday with a quad injury, and although head coach Robert Saleh said the team was "hopeful" he would play this week, Moore was once again held out on Thursday.

The Athletic's Connor Hughes remarked on Thursday that it seemed "highly unlikely" that Moore would be able to play in the Jets' Week 14 game against the New Orleans Saints this Sunday.

Moore isn't the only key Jets player who could miss this week. Hughes said the same for right guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif who hasn't practiced this week due to an ankle injury he suffered last week.

Running back Tevin Coleman and cornerback Michael Carter II have each been in concussion protocol this week and have not practiced yet. Friday's practice will be more telling, but it's not looking good for Moore and Duvernay-Tardif.

The NY Jets can't afford to be without Elijah Moore in Week 14

Moore's absence would likely be the most significant, especially following the loss of Corey Davis for the season after he was placed on the injured reserve earlier in the week.

The Jets are already down one of their top-two wide receivers — they can ill-afford to be down their other one.

If Moore were to be unable to play, the Jets would likely be forced to start Keelan Cole and Denzel Mims on the outside with Jeff Smith and perhaps Vyncint Smith, who was a practice squad protection this week, serving as their primary backups.

Hardly an ideal group of wide receivers for rookie quarterback Zach Wilson to work with. Wilson is coming off perhaps the best game of his brief NFL career, but losing Davis and Moore in the span of one week would certainly prove to be detrimental.

Duvernay-Tardif's absence would also be significant as the Jets would be forced to turn back to Greg Van Roten at right guard for the time being.

The Jets will hope to see one or both of these players return to practice on Friday. But as for now, their statuses for Sunday's game remain very much in doubt.

Justin Fried

Justin Fried is an editor for FanSided who has over seven years of experience covering the NFL and various other sports. A diehard Jets fan since birth, Justin has served as the editor for The Jet Press since 2019, interviewing athletes such as Sauce Gardner, Curtis Martin, LaDainian Tomlinson, Joe Klecko, and many others. Justin has also worked closely with brands like Red Bull to help highlight the niche sectors of the sporting world. His four-part series on the sport of breaking remains one of his proudest pieces of work. In his spare time, Justin is an avid pro wrestling fan who is fortunate enough to have traveled to nearly 30 different countries.