Aaron Glenn and the New York Jets had a chance to lean on Isaiah Davis Sunday with Breece Hall sidelined by a groin injury. Instead, Davis was nowhere to be found on offense.
Davis did not get a single touch in the loss to the Chicago Bears, and his only stat line entry was a tackle on special teams coverage. He has now gone four games without playing an offensive snap.
The workload in Chicago went almost entirely to Braelon Allen, who handled all 14 of the Jets’ carries on the afternoon. There was no quarterback run from Geno Smith, and the Jets also did not try to get Kenyon Sadiq or Isaiah Williams involved on a jet sweep. Williams did provide the Jets’ lone touchdown with a 58-yard catch.
Neither Davis nor Glenn had addressed the lack of touches as of publication.
The situation leaves the Jets with a roster question they can’t keep ducking. If Davis isn’t trusted, there’s little point in carrying him on the 53-man roster. If the Jets do believe he’s the second-best option behind Allen, then the usage in Chicago raises an even bigger issue about how the depth chart is being built.
Running back is supposed to be one of the spots where depth matters most, especially over the grind of a season. The Jets do have Kene Nwangwu, whose main value is as a returner and practice squad player, and Al-Jay Henderson, an undrafted rookie. But with a 53-man roster and a 16-man practice squad, the expectation is that there’s real insurance at positions that take repeated punishment.
What happened Sunday looked nothing like that. With the Jets trailing for most of the game, only one player got all 14 carries, and that kind of setup feels hard to defend in the modern NFL.
The frustration is sharpened by the fact that Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey had built up so much goodwill with the fanbase over the offseason. Instead, the Jets are now dealing with depth problems that keep surfacing during a three-game losing streak.
Before the Lions game, the suggestion was floated that the Jets should trade Davis for the Giants’ Tyrone Tracy Jr., who has also been a non-factor offensively. Tracy, at least, had a 55-yard kickoff return in the Giants’ comeback win over Arizona.
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