The New York Jets are about to get their first real dose of outside competition this week, and the schedule is lined up to tell them plenty about where they stand. Tampa Bay comes to town for joint practices on Tuesday and Wednesday before the teams meet Friday night in the Jets’ first preseason game.
That means New York will finally be working against someone other than itself. After a summer of internal reps, the Buccaneers offer a cleaner read on how the Jets are functioning right now, even if Tampa Bay missed the playoffs last season. The Bucs still bring the kind of profile the Jets would like to match in 2026, with Baker Mayfield at quarterback and Todd Bowles on the sideline for the last two playoff seasons.
The biggest question hanging over the week is how much the Jets will actually put on the field. Will Aaron Glenn keep starters on the sideline, or will this be closer to an all-hands approach at MetLife Stadium on Friday?
Glenn wasn’t eager to pin himself down when asked whether veteran quarterback Geno Smith would play. The Jets head coach, a longtime friend of Bowles, left the door open without giving away the plan.
"I will answer that more in the week, but I will tell you right now, my mentality is that everybody's playing and I can't tell you how long. But these joint practices, our first-team guys are gonna get a number of reps against their first-team guys.
That's how me and Todd want it. And man, we're gonna get really good work.
Like two days of really good work against these guys. This is a team that's been to the playoffs."
That sounds like a green light for at least some starters, even if Glenn stopped short of saying how long they’ll be out there. A series or two, a drive on each side of the ball - that kind of limited work feels possible, but the coach kept the specifics under wraps.
The joint practices are the more important part of the week anyway. Preseason games may come with stadium lights and a scoreboard, but these controlled sessions usually bring the sharper edge. For the Jets, that’s where the first-team offense and defense will get their best chance to show real progress.
That offense could use the test. It had a sloppy practice on Saturday, and now it gets a chance to measure itself against a Buccaneers defense that should make life difficult. Vita Vea won’t be there, but the matchup still looks like a strong indicator of how far New York has come.
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