The Jarrad Davis signing looks like a major bust for the NY Jets

Justin Fried

NY Jets, Jarrad Davis / Jim McIsaac/GettyImages

When the NY Jets signed linebacker Jarrad Davis in the offseason, they knew they were taking on somewhat of a reclamation project.

A former first-round pick, Davis spent just four years with the Detroit Lions serving as more of a part-time player in his final season. He was your prototypical draft bust.

Despite this, the Jets clearly saw something in the uber-athletic Davis and believed that they could unlock his potential in their scheme. So much so that they signed him to a one-year, $5.5 million contract on the very first day of free agency.

The Jets had high hopes for Davis in 2021. But more than halfway through the season, it seems pretty clear that this signing was a total whiff for general manager Joe Douglas and the front office.

Jarrad Davis has fallen short of all expectations with the NY Jets

Davis was forced to miss the start of the season after suffering an ankle injury in the team's second preseason game. He didn't make his debut until Week 8 where he earned the start in the Jets' upset victory over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The 27-year-old would start the next two games alongside C.J. Mosley at linebacker, struggling to make any semblance of a positive impact. And his struggles contributed to the Jets' disastrous defensive performances in recent weeks.

Davis was so bad that he was benched after just three games in favor of waiver-wire pickup Quincy Williams who had started earlier in the year while Davis was sidelined.

The Florida product played just nine defensive snaps in Week 11 primarily due to brief absences of Mosley and Williams who both dealt with injuries. On top of that, he played his first special-teams snaps of the season.

And moving forward, that will likely be his role. A special-teamer.

Davis has earned an absolutely abysmal 28.8 Pro Football Focus grade in his brief stint with the Jets thus far which would be good for dead-last among all 84 qualified linebackers had he played enough snaps to qualify.

Realistically, anyone who has watched Davis over the course of his NFL career wouldn't be surprised. He's still the same player he was in Detroit — a raw, athletic specimen who hasn't developed into a viable NFL linebacker.

He was the Darron Lee of the Lions.

The Jets believed they could fix Jarrad Davis. They believe that their scheme would maximize his raw talent and allow him to reach his full potential.

But just a few games into his Jets career, it sure seems as though they were dead wrong.

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.