The Jets won their preseason opener against the Washington Commanders on Saturday. That said, the scoreboard doesn’t matter that much. The real winners are individual players who perform well to either solidify a role or draw attention.
Here are some players I thought performed well.
Braelon Allen: Allen has been getting buzz since he set foot on the practice field. In an era without much contact at practice, however, it is difficult to know how practice success will translate to actual games for a power back. The normal caveats apply. This was one preseason game. He got a handful of touches, and he wasn’t going up against the top competition. That said, Allen looked very good. For a big guy, he showed nice burst, breaking a couple of big runs on his way to a 54 yard game on 6 carries.
Olu Fashanu: My expectations for Fashanu this year are for him to play credible ball when forced into the lineup by injury. How do we adjust that for preseason? Against second teamers and backups, I expect the player to dominate. If you are going to be credible against top competition, you should look like a man among boys against lower tier opponents. Obviously you don’t like to see a false start on the first snap. I think we might chalk that one up to nerves playing in the NFL for the first time. It seemed to be like Fashanu played a clean game other than that. He held up on an island consistently. Maybe the best way to put it is I didn’t notice anything alarming. And left tackle is one of those spots where it probably means good things if you don’t notice anything during the course of the game.
Leonard Taylor: I’m not sure the Jets have an extra defensive tackle roster slot up for grabs. They seem set with the veterans they have. Taylor can at least make it a tough decision if he keeps playing that effectively. He recorded a pair of tackles for a loss and was a disruptive presence through the game. At the very least, Taylor seems like a lock for a practice squad slot which is not a given for an undrafted free agent.
Jarrick Bernard-Converse: He got the start at corner, and I was impressed with what he did. He was in coverage on an early big completion for Washington, but I thought he was in good position. It was just a perfect throw. Other than that, I didn’t see him give up much of anything. He was effective tackling in run support in space, and was blanketing his man. It was a nice introduction at corner for the player the Jets just converted to cornerback. Cornerback is another position where it will be tough to crack the roster. There aren’t many spots, but Bernard-Converse just made a claim to one.
Adrian Martinez: Let’s be serious. Martinez faces a major uphill climb to make the Jets roster as the third quarterback. It isn’t a good sign that Andrew Peasley got into the game before him. And before Washington put in the very bottom of the roster guys, even this preseason game seemed like it was too big for Martinez. Still, he delivered a game-winning drive and was able to put a couple of really good throws on film. That’s a positive, even if his Jets chances aren’t great.
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