Jets Camp — Sep 3: Grupe Took the Job Six Days Later

The kicking job the Jets settled a week ago came unsettled in a day. On Monday the team was awarded Blake Grupe off waivers from Indianapolis and released Jason Sanders, per the Jets' announcement — six days after naming Sanders the winner of the competition, and three days after he missed an extra point and a 54-yarder in the finale. Sanders was back on the practice squad hours later, per Josh Alper at Pro Football Talk, with Aaron Glenn indicating the evaluation would continue into Week 1. It did: on Wednesday the Jets worked out Justin Tucker, Michael Badgley and Josh Karty, per Charean Williams at Pro Football Talk, reporting Jordan Schultz. Grupe spent three seasons in New Orleans, 75 of 94 on field goals, and lost the Colts' job to Spencer Shrader after making all 11 of his tries over the final five games of last season, per JJ Stankevitz at the Colts' site. Nick Faria at Jets On SI reads the sequence as a decision rather than a competition, and notes Grupe "has mostly kicked in domes throughout his career." Our last episode called the canvassing of alternatives speculation until a claim actually happened. It happened, and then it kept going.

The other claim was a linebacker Carolina had been starting. Trevin Wallace, its 2024 third-round pick, 70-second overall, has 20 starts in 25 games and had 61 tackles in 12 starts last season, per the Jets' announcement — Pro Football Focus graded his 2025 pass coverage 20-third of 88 qualified linebackers, per Faria, who has Jamien Sherwood 60-fifth in the same set. The other man off the roster for the two claims was guard Kohl Levao, one of the three seats our last episode said a claim would threaten; he was waived Monday and back on the practice squad Tuesday, per Amanda Vogt at the team's site. Andrew Beck and Tim Patrick, the other two seats, are on Randy Lange's Tuesday breakdown of the 53.

Jordan Meredith arrived from Las Vegas in the trade we told you about — 11 starts at center last season for the Raiders with Geno Smith at quarterback, per the team. Glenn, per Lange: "The two groups that you want to make sure are steady are the O-line and the D-line" — and on Meredith himself, "He's familiar with Geno, with Parham. I'm glad we got the player, I really am." The team's own accounts of that deal disagree, so: a late-round swap. The edge rusher the roster kept, Joseph Ossai, hurt his left foot in the finale and is week-to-week, per Glenn via Lange — "We were lucky. I would say week-to-week with him" — which is why Nate Lynn matters: three sacks in two preseason games, waived Sunday, cleared, and on the practice squad Monday, per the team, the landing our last episode called an expectation. He has a path back, per Colby Colwell at Jets On SI.

The practice squad, 16 signed Monday, per Eric Allen and Vogt at the team's site. On offense: guards Marquis Hayes and Xavier Newman-Johnson, receivers Cam Camper, Malik McClain and Jamaal Pritchett, and running back Al-Jay Henderson, an Irvington, New Jersey native who rushed for a thousand 78 yards at Buffalo in 2024, went unsigned all summer and made it off a tryout, per Faria. On defense: linemen Jack Heflin and Payton Page, edge rushers Paschal Ekeji — on the International Pathway designation, a former rugby player for the Sharks converting to defensive end — and Lynn, linebackers Jaden Keller and Troy Reeder, seven seasons and a Super Bowl with the Rams, in from Detroit, and cornerbacks Mory Bamba, Jordan Clark and Samuel Womack III. Plus Sanders, the kicker they had released the same day. Four of the six names our last episode compressed into "among the out" — Heflin, Clark, Hayes and Newman-Johnson — were on it within a day. Tuesday: Levao and quarterback Bailey Zappe signed, per Vogt — Zappe, released Sunday, back as the arm behind Smith and Cade Klubnik, and Glenn on Tuesday said "If there's another guy out there that we feel like can help this team, me and Darren Mougey will have a conversation" — and Camper released. Grupe took number 11, which moved Zappe to four.

Three fixes for the page: the team's release lists Zappe among the vested veterans terminated Sunday, not Saturday; Mazi Smith among the 25 waived, not released; and our August 23 page called Geno Smith's league lead giveaways, when it was interceptions. Mazi Smith signed to Miami's practice squad, per the Dolphins, and quarterback Brady Cook, waived Sunday, is on Miami's active roster, per the Dolphins' roster page. Landon Young, Newman-Johnson and Womack were the other three vested veterans terminated, per the team — the last two back on the practice squad a day later.

The reserve moves came Sunday, per the team's release: linebacker Mykal Walker, cornerback Tre Brown and running back Chip Trayanum to injured reserve; guard Anez Cooper, with a shoulder, and safety VJ Payne, with a bone bruise, to injured reserve with return designations; linebacker Tyler Baron to the reserve physically-unable-to-perform list. Tight end Chase Curtis was waived with an injury designation and reverted.

Breece Hall is expected back in the starting backfield for the opener, per Jack Bell at the team's site — the two-to-three-week clock our last episode said was still running has a date now. Rookie tight end Kenyon Sadiq worked position drills Wednesday for a second straight practice after hernia surgery, per Vogt; rookie cornerback D'Angelo Ponds has a calf strain and has not practiced. Glenn on managing the returning rookies: "We cannot say, 'OK, these guys are going to get 60 plays out there.'" And on the roster he finished with, per Lange: "We're still turning that ship. But I like where we are."

Back in July we previewed this team around a collision: the loudest turnover-luck signal in football — three takeaways all season, the fewest in the league — meeting a veteran quarterback imported to catch the bounce who led the league in interceptions himself. The rest of the floor: three and 14, an offense that ranked 20-ninth in expected points added per play — the measure of how much each snap moved the expected score — and a defense 30-first. Cut day put everything on the veteran. This week put a new kicker behind him, a new linebacker in front of him, and his Las Vegas center back in the building. The read holds. The margin is what it was, and the kicker inside it arrived Monday.

Next is the Titans, Sunday, September 13, at Nissan Stadium. What to watch: who kicks, and whether Hall takes a full practice in game week. The Recap follows the game.

_Data via nflverse._