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Jets coach Aaron Glenn confirmed on Friday that the team will be without tight end Mason Taylor for their game in Detroit. He has a thumb injury.
That is a brutal position and guys get dinged all the time. When you really think about it, a tight end is kind of a hybrid of offensive line and tight end. So they are locking horns constantly with defensive linemen and linebackers as blockers, and then they do a ton of running on routes and often on special teams.
So you’re at risk for both collision-based injuries from blocking and soft tissue injuries from a ton of running.
The position can take quite a toll on the human body.
So even guys who are “healthy” probably really aren’t 100 percent.
Today at Jets practice, tight end Jeremy Ruckert (pictured above) was wearing a compression sleeve on his left leg, which generally means there is something go on with that leg. And Jelani Woods had something on his right leg.
These are not injuries that will keep them out of the game, and the Jets are doing nothing wrong by not listing them on the injury report.
Because, as we have heard for many years, there is basically a 100 percent injury rate in the NFL during the season. Everybody has something going on.
And things laymen would be running to the doctor for, most of these cats just fight through.
Many coaches over the years have made it clear, “There is a difference between being hurt and injured.”
You are generally expected to play hurt.
“Playing hurt” means playing through manageable pain, while “playing injured” means playing with structural damage that perhaps impacts your performance and risks making the injury worse . . .
Saw this headline on ESPN: “Jets’ No. 1 TE Mason Taylor (thumb) out vs. high-scoring Lions.”
The headline kind of struck me.
No. 1 tight end?
To be honest, while he’s very talented, is he their true #1 tight end?
It almost seems like they are using a tight end by committee, mixing and matching Taylor, Kenyon Sadiq, Woods, Ruckert, and Andrew Beck.
In these first two games, Taylor has two catches for -2 yards. Is those the numbers of a #1 tight end?
It’s a little surprising he wasn’t used more in the passing game in the first two weeks.
Nonetheless, that headline was a little misleading. Will Taylor’s absence hurt the Jets? Maybe a little, but they certainly have enough talent in that room to overcome it, and I’m not sure if the Jets have a true #1 tight end right now.
And that isn’t to say they don’t have guys talented enough for the job, but more so, they are sharing the wealth at this very deep position, mixing and matching five different players. This week they will mix and match four . . .
If Jets hope to win at Detroit on Sunday, one thing they must do better than last week is take advantage of a suspect offensive line. They didn’t do a good enough job of that last week.
Packers were coming off a bad offensive line game in Week 1, and then lost two starters in the first half against the Jets, and were still able to storm back in the fourth quarter, from a 17-7 deficit, to tie the game at 17, and then win in overtime.
The Jets’ much-improved front, which should get edge Joseph Ossai back this week, needs to wreck the game more than they did last week.
Thought they would have been able to do a little more damage in the second half against Packers rookie guard Jager Burton last week, who was forced into the lineup after a first-half injury to Aaron Banks. Thought maybe guys like T’Vondre Sweat could have taken advantage of Burton more.
The Lions are starting a rookie right tackle, Blake Miller, who is a good prospect but entered the league with a lot to work on, and is playing a little dinged, missing last week’s game with a knee. You know darn well a knee injury suffered in Week 1, is not totally healed by Week 3.
Guys like David Bailey, Will McDonald, Ossai and Kingsley Enagbare, whoever is lined up over this raw rookie, needs to take advantage of a guy learning on the job and make Jared Goff uncomfortable. Goff does not like to get hit, and if you rough him up, history shows, you can impact his performance.
September 25, 2026
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