A handful of Jets on the roster bubble wasted no time making their case in the preseason opener.
For three players in particular - Marcelino McCrary-Ball, Jordan Clark and Jarius Monroe - Friday night offered a chance to push back after uneven or difficult stretches when the games counted last season. Each flashed enough to get noticed, even if none has turned a preseason performance into a guaranteed job.
McCrary-Ball may have made the loudest statement of the group. He entered last year as a special-teams standout and a captain in that phase, but the path to making the team again is different now.
Special teams alone probably won’t be enough. The Jets need more from him on defense if he’s going to stick in a linebacker room that already has competition.
His first preseason game was exactly the kind of response he needed. Pro Football Focus had McCrary-Ball atop 133 qualified linebackers with a 96.4 overall grade and a 94.3 coverage grade.
That’s the kind of outing that turns heads, even with two preseason games still to go. Kiko Mauigoa and Mykal Walker also had solid nights, but McCrary-Ball clearly stood out among the group.
That said, Walker still appears to have the edge in the roster fight. He brought more to the defense last season and finished strong, grading as PFF’s 10th-best overall linebacker over the final five games of the 2025 season with an 80.4 mark.
He also handled a major special-teams workload, logging the second-most snaps among Jets special teamers with 302. McCrary-Ball did his part there too, leading the Jets with an 85.0 special teams grade from PFF, but his defensive inconsistency kept him from becoming reliable depth.
Clark’s case is a little different, but the stakes are similar. He spent last summer on the practice squad after a strong camp, then got promoted and played in five of the Jets’ final games in 2025.
The results were rough. PFF gave him a 46.4 overall grade, which ranked 144th among 154 qualified cornerbacks with at least 100 snaps.
In coverage, he allowed 16 completions on 20 targets for 140 yards and three touchdowns, with no interceptions or pass breakups, and he surrendered a 1345.4 passer rating when targeted.
Friday was a much better showing. Clark was active, around the ball and noticeable throughout the game.
His 75.8 defensive grade ranked fifth on the team, and he played 38 defensive snaps, the fourth-most on the roster. He also tied for the team lead with six tackles and added three stops, second-most on the team.
Even so, the cornerback room is crowded, and Clark is not the only bubble player who helped himself. Rookie UDFA Mory Bamba out of BYU made a splash too, collecting four pass breakups and giving the Jets another reason to keep him in the conversation.
Monroe is in a similar spot to Clark. He spent most of last season on the practice squad after a solid preseason and then appeared in four games late in the year. But his defensive work in those chances wasn’t good enough to make the 53-man roster feel likely right now.
The safety depth chart isn’t helping his case either. Behind Minkah Fitzpatrick, the battle for the No. 2 job is crowded, with Dane Belton looking like the frontrunner and Andre Cisco and Malachi Moore also in the mix. Seventh-round rookie VJ Payne would have been part of that competition, but he’ll miss the preseason after suffering a bone bruise in training camp that is expected to sideline him for 3-4 weeks.
Monroe did his part on Friday. His run defense grade of 78.5 was second on the team behind Mykal Walker’s 81.5, and he tied Clark for the team lead with six tackles while missing none. He also finished with three stops, second on the Jets.
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