Jets name 6 captains, leave Garrett Wilson off list
The Jets picked 6 captains Wednesday — Geno Smith, Joe Tippmann, Harrison Phillips, Demario Davis, Minkah Fitzpatrick and Isaiah Williams — and left Garrett Wilson, the team's top receiver, off the list entirely.
Six captains, and no Garrett Wilson
The Jets picked their six captains Wednesday, as voted by the locker room: quarterback Geno Smith, guard Joe Tippmann, defensive tackle Harrison Phillips, linebacker Demario Davis, safety Minkah Fitzpatrick and special-teamer Isaiah Williams, Rich Cimini of ESPN reports, with the team's own account confirming the same six. It is the first captaincy for Fitzpatrick since New York traded for him, and Smith wears the C into a season where he is also mentoring the rookie now backing him up — head coach Aaron Glenn confirmed Monday that Cade Klubnik will open the year as the Jets' No. 2 quarterback behind Smith, Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic reports.
Geno Smith, Demario Davis, Minkah Fitzpatrick are among Jets captains; Garrett Wilson is not. t.co/ACMbzJFMZa
The name missing is the one a lot of fans expected to see. Garrett Wilson — set to top a receiver room that also includes Adonai Mitchell, Omar Cooper, Isaiah Williams, Tim Patrick and Arian Smith, Randy Lange of the team's official site reports — is not among the six, ProFootballTalk flagged Wednesday. Nothing out of the building has framed it as a message, and the vote belongs to the locker room and not the coaching staff, but on a team still finding its offensive identity it is the kind of detail that gets a group chat going.
Davis, for his part, has been the emotional center of the room all camp. The club's own account ran an oral history of his path from a reject grade at the combine to captain this week, with Rex Ryan putting it plainly: "I knew this kid had a chance to be special."
UFL MVP @UFLStorm quarterback Jack Plummer to work out for #Packers next week, per league source. Under consideration for #Jets after his workout that included Will Levis. Plummer passed for 2,189 yards, 17 touchdowns, one interception for Storm. Previously #Panthers @BoilerFootball @CalFootball @LouisvilleFB
Last time out: preseason closes 1-2, and Klubnik's toughest look came in the finale
The exhibition slate ended the way it started — uneven — with a 23-6 loss to the Giants on August 28 that closed the Jets' preseason at 1-2, a shutout of the Steelers sandwiched between losses to Tampa Bay and New York's other team. Geno Smith sat the finale entirely, which handed Klubnik the long look against a Giants starting defense; he finished 6 of 13 for 59 yards, no touchdowns and an interception, the kind of night camp competitions actually get decided on rather than won.
Giants6-23
Steelers17-0
Buccaneers16-24The one player who left preseason looking better than he entered it plays special teams. Marcelino McCrary-Ball posted an interception, a fumble recovery, a tackle for loss, a pass breakup and nine total tackles in the finale — a line built for exactly the kind of bubble-roster case he is trying to make. It was not clean up front either: Joseph Ossai and rookie guard Anez Cooper were both ruled out during the game, and the kicking competition that consumed the following Monday started right there, with Jason Sanders missing two attempts.
With the slate closed, 1-2 is the last number the preseason will hand out. It says almost nothing about the season — most of the men who played that night will not see the field against the Titans — but it was the last live look at the bottom of the roster before cutdown day remade it completely.
Mougey keeps churning the roster, and the Jets are still shopping at QB
General manager Darren Mougey was not finished after flipping a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Raiders for center Jordan Meredith and a 2029 seventh — the 14th trade Mougey has made in 12 months, Rich Cimini reports, who noted the GM "might not be done." The practice squad kept turning behind it this week: the Jets signed offensive lineman Brant Banks and released fellow lineman Marquis Hayes, while linebacker Mykal Walker and running back Dominic Richardson were both released from injured reserve with injury settlements, Cimini and Aaron Wilson of KPRC report; tight ends Chase Curtis and Connor Hulstein were waived with settlements of their own the same day.
The Jets hosted six players for tryouts today, including former Titans QB Will Levis, per transaction wire. Looking to perhaps add another QB to the practice squad. #Jets
The club is still shopping at a spot it supposedly filled. Six players came through for workouts this week, including former Titans quarterback Will Levis — cut by Tennessee and a free agent since, a name that reads differently with the Titans eight days out on the schedule — as the Jets look to add arms to the practice squad, per the transaction wire. Klubnik is locked in as the only backup quarterback on the 53-man roster, with Bailey Zappe back on the practice squad after losing that job to him.
Elsewhere in the building, a piece of Jets history closed out this week: former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is set to plead guilty in the alleged attack on a truck driver outside an Indianapolis restaurant last October, with a related civil case also nearing settlement.
Saleh's return: the Jets open against the coach who used to run their building
The Jets open the season Sunday afternoon in Tennessee, against a Titans team now coached by Robert Saleh — the man this same building fired in 2024. Tennessee hired Saleh as head coach in January, the team's official site confirmed, and paired him with Cam Ward, the No. 1 overall pick who is now in year two after a 3-14 rookie season, plus a new coaching staff built around former Giants head coach Brian Daboll calling the offense and Gus Bradley running the defense, per the team's own announcements. It is the kind of scheduling accident that turns a Week 1 game into a storyline before either team snaps the ball.
Saleh is not playing coy about it. "We want to win Week 1, I don't hold grudges," he told reporters this week, ProFootballTalk relayed — as direct an answer as a first meeting with your old team gets. The Titans arrive off a 2-1 preseason and a 15-24 loss to the Bears in their finale, still installing a new staff, while the Jets get injury notes trending in their favor: Breece Hall (groin) is expected to be ready for the opener, Jack Bell of the team's site reports, and D'Angelo Ponds (calf) and Kenyon Sadiq (hernia) are both on track to play as well, per head coach Aaron Glenn and Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic.
Robert Saleh on facing Jets: We want to win Week 1, I don't hold grudges. t.co/scaOcxf8k5
The number reflects a game nobody is sure about. The line opened with Tennessee favored by 2.5 points, and the total was set at 38.5 — a figure that reads low-scoring for two teams still finding their footing under first-year command structures on Saleh's side, and a rookie backup quarterback on New York's.