These five veterans will help dictate crucial Jets season
NY Post
The NFL regular season is finally upon us after months of endless analysis, talk and silly babbling. We are about to get actual football.
For the Jets, things get started Monday against the defending NFC champion 49ers. The Jets enter this season with high hopes. There is talk of this being a Super Bowl contender and at the very least a playoff team.
We all know that the season hinges on the health of Aaron Rodgers and the growth of young stars like Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall and Sauce Gardner. But today I want to highlight five players who have critical roles on the 2024 Jets. How they perform will have an influence over just how far the Jets go this season.
It is a group of five players who are all veterans and some with impressive NFL résumés. Can they all deliver for the Jets this year? Here are the five (in alphabetical order):
I was talking to someone from the Jets earlier this summer and they pointed to Clark tearing his ACL on the last play of OTAs in 2023 as the first sign of trouble that year. The Jets were very excited about Clark after acquiring him by trade from the Ravens and then he missed the entire season.
Clark has returned and is the starting strong safety. The Jets remain excited about what Clark can do and feel he is an upgrade over Jordan Whitehead. The biggest question to me about Clark is how he responds after missing an entire season. That sometimes affects players more than we appreciate. He is also 29 years old and while he was always a steady player for the Ravens, he has not been spectacular. The Jets defense has very few holes, but safety could be one.