NY Jets news: Connor McGovern re-signs, Bryce Huff struggles, Micheal Clemons praise
- Jets re-sign Connor McGovern
- Bryce Huff is struggling
- Robert Saleh praises Micheal Clemons
By Justin Fried
The NY Jets made an important depth addition to their offensive line on Wednesday, re-signing veteran center Connor McGovern to their practice squad. This comes a few days after the team placed backup interior lineman Wes Schweitzer on the injured reserve with a hand injury.
McGovern has started 55 games for the Jets over the last four years and entered 2023 as the team's starting center before a gruesome knee injury prematurely ended his season.
Now healthy, McGovern gives the Jets some much-needed interior depth with Schweitzer sidelined for the time being. He will start on the practice squad, but there's a good chance we see the seven-year veteran on the active roster at some point.
McGovern is a quality backup center at this stage with the versatility to play guard as well. Xavier Newman and Jake Hanson are the only two backup interior linemen on the 53-man roster.
More NY Jets news:
Bryce Huff struggling to gain traction with the Eagles
As the Jets continue to deal with issues regarding Haason Reddick, the player he was brought in to help replace is struggling to find his footing with his new team. Bryce Huff's Eagles career is off to a rocky start.
The former undrafted free agent failed to record a single pressure in the Eagles' Week 1 win over the Packers in Brazil and received the fourth-most snaps among all Eagles edge rushers. His coaches don't seem thrilled with him, either.
Eagles defensive coordinator has been especially critical of Huff since he arrived in Philadelphia, telling reporters on Wednesday that he needs to "separate himself from the other edge rushers" to earn more playing time.
Now, Huff's lackluster Week 1 could be chalked up to the poor field conditions in Brazil — no edge rusher was applying consistent pressure. Fangio clearly has reservations about playing Huff, though.
Robert Saleh praises Micheal Clemons
While Fangio continues to publicly criticize Huff, Jets head coach Robert Saleh has taken a different approach with one of his struggling players. Saleh continues to praise defensive lineman Micheal Clemons despite his lackluster performances.
When asked about Clemons' struggles on Wednesday, Saleh told reporters that the entire team needs to be better in Week 2 before insisting that he thought Clemons "was one of the better ones" on Monday night.
The former Texas A&M standout finished the game with a 56.8 Pro Football Focus grade, which includes an underwhelming 51.1 run-defense grade. Clemons wasn't the only issue with the defensive line, but he was part of it.
The Jets are counting on Clemons to take on a larger role this season following the departure of John Franklin-Myers. They're going to need more from him if he's going to continue to start.