Smith was not claimed off waivers and will now stay with the Jets on injured reserve for the 2026 season, barring an injury settlement. The free safety played 14 games last season, split between three separate teams, and is primarily a special teams contributor.

Hartwig was waived by the Jets due to an undisclosed issue that caused him to fail his physical. The center was not claimed off waivers and now will remain on the reserve/PUP list while he recovers from his issue.

Young appeared in 56 games with 12 starts over his first four seasons with the Saints, but he spent the entire 2025 campaign on IR with an ankle injury. The 2021 sixth-round pick was one of 31 tryout players during the Jets' rookie minicamp, and he is heading into his age-29 season.

The Jets' kicker competition is wide open, as Ferrin will face off against Cade York — who last played in 2024 when he hit nine of 13 field-goal attempts (69.2 percent) — and Lenny Krieg from the European Football League. In his final year at BYU, Ferrin hit 23 of 30 field-goal attempts (76.7 percent), including four of six tries from beyond 50 yards.

Curtis spent six years at TCU but never posted more than 167 receiving yards in a season. The 6-foot-4, 241-pound tight end ran a 4.68 40-yard dash at his pro day, and without much receiving upside, he'll need to make an impact as a blocker and a gunner on special teams to nab a 53-man roster spot.

Trayanum made four stops during his six-year college career, ultimately breaking out in 2025 with Toledo by rushing 182 times for 1,015 yards (5.6 YPC) and 12 touchdowns while adding 21 receptions for 212 yards and two scores. He's a bigger running back (5-foot-11, 224 pounds) who ran an impressive 4.50 40-yard dash for his size. He'll have a difficult time securing a roster spot, however, as Breece Hall, Braelon Allen (knee) and Isaiah Davis are all on the roster heading into the offseason program.

Sheffield played a season apiece at Washington State and North Texas before ending his college career at Rutgers. The wide receiver totaled 44 receptions for 557 yards and five touchdowns over 12 games in 2025. Sheffield's speed and suddenness mean that if he can produce at training camp, he may have a chance to see a few targets a year as a field-stretching option.

McClain played for Florida State and Penn State before finishing his college career with Arizona State. The wide receiver caught 31 receptions for 441 yards and one touchdown over 13 games in 2025, with his one score coming via a 42-yard reception on a trick play against Texas. Amidst a packed wide-receiver depth chart, McClain will really have to show out at training camp to survive cutdown day.

Lacy played four years with South Alabama before transferring to Louisville for the final two years of his collegiate career. The wide receiver caught 60 receptions for 635 yards and two touchdowns over 13 games in 2025. Lacy is undersized, but his vision and acceleration could potentially earn him a gadget role as the No. 4 or 5 receiver on an NFL roster.

With an average annual value of $15.25 million on the deal, Hall becomes the third-highest paid running back in the NFL behind the Eagles' Saquon Barkley ($20.6 million) and the 49ers' Christian McCaffrey ($19 million). Despite being in mostly dreadful offenses in four seasons since the Jets selected him in the second round of the 2022 Draft, Hall has averaged 1,453 yards from scrimmage and 7.3 touchdowns per year over the last three campaigns. He even put together the first 1,000-yard season on the ground of his career (1,065, to be exact) in 2025. Moving forward, Hall will remain the engine of New York's offense.

McDonald has tallied 18.5 sacks in 32 games over the last two seasons, so it comes as little surprise that the Jets have opted to keep him under their control through the end of the 2027 season. Even though the club recently used the second overall pick in the 2026 NFL Draft on defensive end David Bailey, McDonald figures to get about as much work as he can handle during the upcoming campaign.

Payne started 42 games as a four-year defensive back at Kansas State. In his final season, Payne posted 59 tackles, 3.0 tackles for loss, five pass breakups and an interception. The 22-year-old is a dependable tackler who played all around the formation in college. There's still work to do in coverage, but he's big (6-foot-3, 206 pounds) with some of the longest arms for a safety in the draft (33 and 6/8 inches), and his athleticism (4.40 40-yard dash) should make him a strong special-teams option if he can't crack the defensive rotation right away.

The Jets sent the Seahawks a seventh-round pick to move up 11 spots and take Cooper. Through four years at Miami, Cooper started 45 games at right guard. Cooper's an imposing force at 6-foot-6, 334 pounds and should be considered a solid backup on the interior of the Jets' offensive line.

Klubnik's college career didn't end with his most impressive campaign of the bunch, but he put up 3,639 passing yards and a 36:6 TD:INT ratio as a junior in 2024 and still completed 65.6 percent of his pass attempts for 2,943 yards as a senior for Clemson, amassing a 16:6 TD:INT ratio to close things out. Klubnik boasts the measurables necessary for the position and more than enough athleticism, but he struggles getting through his reads and tends to leave the pocket earlier than necessary. While Geno Smith is locked into the starting gig in New York for the next couple of years on a two-year, $75 million contract, Klubnik should have a chance to claim the top backup job from Brady Cook, who really struggled when thrust into starting duties late in the 2025 campaign.

Jackson spent the last three seasons of his five-year college career with Florida State. He operated as an effective run stopper on the Seminoles' interior defensive line, and he was named an All-ACC Honorable Mention in each of 2024 and 2025. He ended his senior year with 45 total tackles, including 1.0 sacks, across 12 games. Jackson has the size and strength to beat blockers and wreak havoc in the interior line, and he'll be an intriguing developmental project under Jets head coach Aaron Glenn. Jackson is slated to work in rotation with T'Vondre Sweat, Harrison Phillips and Mazi Smith.

Ponds wasn't heavily recruited out of high school due to his 5-foot-8 size, and that might be an issue for him at the NFL level. However, he didn't let that lack of size get in the way of a successful three-year college career that culminated in a National College Championship victory in 2025 with Indiana. During that season, Ponds was selected to both the All-American Second-Team and All-Big Ten First-Team after logging 61 tackles, one forced fumble and 12 pass defenses (two interceptions) across 15 games. The Jets needed to address the outside cornerback position after trading Sauce Gardner (calf) to the Colts in November, and Ponds will compete for a starting job against the likes of Azareye'h Thomas (shoulder) and Qwan'tez Stiggers (knee).

Smith was acquired in the offseason to take over as the starting quarterback for a Jets offense that lacked playmakers in the passing game, as Garrett Wilson led the team with 395 receiving yards in 2025 despite being limited to seven games by a knee injury. The Jets are expected to get a healthy Wilson back in 2026 and now boast two additional first-round talents among their pass catchers in Sadiq out of Oregon and Cooper from Indiana. The 35-year-old Smith has thrown 90 touchdown passes over the past four regular seasons, with three of those campaigns coming in Seattle before he played for the Raiders in 2025.

Sadiq has more upside as a pass catcher than Taylor, as the rookie first-round pick had 51 catches for 560 yards and eight touchdowns at Oregon in 2025 and set a position record with a 4.39-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Scouting Combine. That being said, Cimini believes Taylor will still get plenty of playing time, with the Jets likely to use a lot of formations featuring multiple tight ends. Taylor caught 44 of 65 targets for 369 yards and one touchdown as a rookie after being selected in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Wilson should remain the top target in a new-look Jets offense quarterbacked by offseason acquisition Geno Smith. Despite being limited to seven appearances in 2025 by a knee injury, Wilson still led the team with 395 receiving yards. The 10th overall pick in the 2022 Draft has averaged over nine targets per game through 58 regular-season NFL appearances. The addition of two more talented pass catchers may actually prove to be a net positive for Wilson, as he should retain a hefty target share once healthy while potentially getting more scoring opportunities if the Jets offense improves as a unit. Wilson has 18 touchdown receptions through four seasons.

Cooper (6-feet, 199 pounds) was a productive player in his fourth season at Indiana, though less so in the prior three years. Cooper's 4.42-second 40-yard dash verified that he has real NFL speed to leverage his otherwise standout ability after the catch. The Jets pass-catcher rotation is suddenly somewhat crowded after adding Cooper and TE Kenyon Sadiq, so it's not clear how many targets will be left after Garrett Wilson and Adonai Mitchell get their reps.

No one doubts that Sadiq (6-foot-3, 241 pounds) is a good player, and the former Oregon star clearly has compelling long-term upside due to his rare athleticism (4.39-second 40, 43.5-inch vertical jump). This pick is still somewhat puzzling, if only because the Jets just spent a second-round pick on Mason Taylor in the 2025 NFL Draft, and Taylor will be only 22 years old in May. As much as there have been NFL offenses with two tight ends providing standout fantasy utility, there haven't been very many of those and the Jets are maybe the last offense you'd accuse of such competence. With all that said, Sadiq's talent might be so loud that this is more of a problem for Taylor than Sadiq.

Bailey (6-foot-4, 251 pounds) was a standout starter for all four of his collegiate seasons – three at Stanford and one at Texas Tech – but his one season at Texas Tech was particularly memorable. Bailey was dominant for his own part, logging 14.5 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss, and his efforts spearheaded a historically dominant Red Raiders defense as a unit, allowing just 11.8 points per game. With a 4.50-second 40 at the combine to go with a 129-inch broad jump, Bailey confirmed he has blue-chip athleticism to go along with his strong history of production. It would be disappointing if the Jets' new defender isn't one of the league's standout pass rushers within the next two years.

McCrary-Ball was tendered by New York as an exclusive right free agent in March, and the two sides officially put pen to paper Wednesday. The linebacker was dealing with a hamstring injury late in the 2025 campaign, but figures to be back to full health by the time the Jets re-take the field. The 27-year-old will provide the team with an additional depth option behind Francisco Mauigoa (neck) and Mykal Walker in 2026.

The Jets placed an exclusive rights tender on Briggs in early March, and the 2024 seventh-rounder will play on a league-minimum contract for the upcoming season. He saw his defensive snap count increase over the course of the 2025 regular season. Briggs played at least 65 percent of the Jets' defensive snaps in each of the final seven games of the regular season, and over that span he accumulated 25 tackles (11 solo), including 2.0 sacks. He'll likely work in a rotational role on the defensive line in 2026 behind T'Vondre Sweat and Harrison Phillips.

Nwangwu had a small role in New York's offense as a depth RB last year, recording 49 yards on 13 carries in 12 games. However, he was a key player on special teams, logging 604 yards and one touchdown on 18 kickoff returns. Nwangwu has recorded five TDs as a kick returner through his first five campaigns in the league, and that should again be his primary role in 2026.