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The Jets announced their initial 16-man practice squad.
Let’s go over some of the names. I’m going to bounce around a little, and not get into all 16 guys.
Alphabetically, the first name to appear on the list is CB Mory Bamba.
We have not seen him in action since the Jets’ first preseason game, a home win over Tampa Bay, where he flashed a little with 4 PDs, but hurt his knee in the contest. He’s been rehabbing ever since.
While he did have the strong preseason debut, the practice squad is the ideal spot for him. He has great athletic tools, including great size (6-2) and sub-4.4 speed, but is raw as molasses.
Don’t let the 4 PDs fool you into thinking he’s ready to roll. While that was an impressive pro game debut, he is still like a ball of clay that needs to be molded. The practice squad is the perfect place for him now.
Guard Marquis Hayes is an underrated player. This will be his second season on the Jets practice squad (at least to start the season). He is an example of the beauty of the new practice squad rules, which promote a nice mix of rookies and young veterans. Hayes is 27. A 2022 seventh-round pick of Arizona, he spent three years with the Cardinals and then had stints with Washington and Green Bay; the man is extremely powerful. Of course, all NFL offensive linemen are strong, but there are different levels of strength. I rarely see this guy pushed back in practice or preseason games. He is one powerful cat.
We have written a lot about defensive tackle Jack Heflin in this space.
He flashed over and over this summer, in practice and preseason games, but there was no way he was making the regular roster, barring injury. You could argue he made more plays this summer than Darrell Jackson and Jowon Briggs, but they were roster locks entering camp, so he had no chance to beat out either out. He’s a terrific insurance policy to have on the practice squad. This former XFL standout plays with great technique and an outstanding motor.
Speaking of defensive tackles, Peyton Page showed market improvement this summer, which helped him land back on the practice squad where he spent last season.
Speaking of improvement, WR Jamaal Pritchett, another 2025 Jets practice-squad player, looks like a different guy this year. This quick-as-a-tick slot receiver made a lot of plays in camp this summer. Late in camp, he was sidelined with some kind of injury (nobody really asks about injuries involving end-of-the-roster players, so I don’t know what the injury was). But he seems fine now.
The Jets really like Xavier Newman as a backup offensive lineman. He was on their regular roster quite a bit over the last three seasons, but was released on the cut to 53, probably due to shotgun snap issues throughout the summer.
A guard by nature, he was playing a lot more center this summer, since he was competing for the backup interior swing lineman job, so obviously you need to play center and guard to handle that job. Putting him on the practice squad will allow him to iron out his shotgun snap issues, and if there is a guard injury while he works out his snapping kinks, he can always be called up to fill in at guard.
The Jets waived kicker Jason Sanders after a preseason finale where he missed a field goal and extra point. Missing a 54-yard field goal is not grounds to be cut, but he was a little inconsistent at the end of camp. The Jets claimed former Indianapolis Colts kicker Blake Grupe, who will compete with Sanders for the Jets’ Week 1 game at Tennessee. This kicking merry-go-round over the course of spring and summer makes you wonder why the Jets didn’t re-sign Nick Folk. It’s not like the money Atlanta gave him was crazy (two years, $9 million with $4 million guaranteed).
September 2, 2026
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