Friday night’s preseason opener may have given the New York Jets an unexpected name to watch in the cornerback race: Mory Bamba.
The undrafted BYU product didn’t just blend in. He was active all over the field, finishing with an 86.0 defensive grade from Pro Football Focus, second-best on the team. He also piled up four pass deflections and held opposing quarterbacks to a 57.9 passer rating on 10 throws his way.
That kind of showing matters, even with the obvious preseason caveat attached. The Jets’ secondary is already deep and crowded, and Bamba was facing backups. Still, there’s a real path for him to hang around and force his way onto the 53-man roster.
The appeal starts with the traits. At 6-foot-2 and 193 pounds, Bamba reportedly clocked a 4.27-second 40-yard dash at BYU’s pro day.
That time would have led all cornerbacks at this year’s NFL Scouting Combine, and it would have tied for the fourth-best mark ever among combine corners. He also posted a 9.53 Relative Athletic Score, highlighted by an 11-foot-1 broad jump that would have topped every CB at the combine.
Bamba’s background is as unusual as his athletic profile. He turns 26 in November, but he has only played four years of college football.
Before reaching BYU in 2022, he started as a track athlete at Wisconsin-Oshkosh, then transferred to ASA College. He hadn’t played football since 2019, when he was still in high school and first tried cornerback.
At BYU, his role never really took off. Over four seasons with the Cougars, he appeared in 36 games, started only two in 2025, and never climbed beyond a rotational role.
The biggest knock on him was always the same: ball production. In 36 games, he never picked off a pass, which makes his preseason ballhawking debut stand out even more.
Bamba didn’t stop with defense, either. Against Tampa Bay, he graded out at 77.5 on special teams, best on the Jets, and delivered an eye-catching tackle in punt coverage that kept the returner to no gain.
That kind of two-way value gives him a chance to make things uncomfortable for a player like Qwan’tez Stiggers. Stiggers is entering his third season and has been useful on special teams, including during the Jets’ historic year in that phase last season.
But he hasn’t shown he can be trusted much on defense. In the 2025 regular season, he posted a 47.1 PFF coverage grade, which ranked 119th out of 127 qualified cornerbacks, and he drew four penalties while playing only 247 defensive snaps.
Bamba brings more upside to the table. He looks like a stronger athletic bet, and he could end up being just as useful on special teams while offering a much better chance to grow into a real rotational corner.
He also matches the profile Aaron Glenn appears to want in his cornerbacks: long, physical, and athletic. Bamba checks those boxes, and his size gives him a real shot to develop in man coverage.
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