Jets Applauded for Free Agency Theft Turned ‘Secret Superstar’

Getty New York Jets cornerback D.J. Reed Jr. in 2022.

The New York Jets nearly broke their playoff drought in 2022, and much of that turnaround was a credit to the offseason — even if the roster fell short of their ultimate goal.

Jets general manager Joe Douglas had what some have called a “franchise-altering draft,” but his free agency haul wasn’t bad either. Chief among the veteran additions was cornerback and immediate team leader D.J. Reed Jr., who USA Today Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar named as Gang Green’s “secret superstar” heading into the 2023 campaign.

“Rookie cornerback Ahmad ‘Sauce’ Gardner got all the kudos in the Jets’ secondary last season, and there’s nothing wrong with that — the 2022 Defensive Rookie of the Year was about as good as any cornerback in the league, no matter what coverage he was playing,” Farrar reasoned. “But there’s more to be said than has been said about D.J. Reed, who the Jets stole on a three-year, $33 million contract in 2022.”

He added that “Reed was on the open market despite the fact that he had played exceedingly well for the [Seattle] Seahawks in 2020 and 2021″ — a lapse in judgement by Seattle and the rest of the league.

NFL Writer Says D.J. Reed Jr. Found ‘Ideal Home’ With Jets & Robert Saleh

Most fans know the story by now, but Reed actually began his career as a fifth-round selection of the San Francisco 49ers in 2018. Jets head coach Robert Saleh was the defensive coordinator in San Fran at the time, but the Niners ended up waiving the CB after a non-football injury ahead of the 2020 season — a factor that still motivates Reed to this day.

After signing him to the Jets, Saleh immediately admitted he was wrong about Reed in San Francisco, initially doubting his ability to start on the outside. The NYJ coach wouldn’t make that same mistake again, and the rest is history.

Ironically, Farrar noted that Reed has “undoubtedly found his ideal home” with Saleh in New York, even though it’s a reunion of sorts.

“Last season, he allowed 47 catches on 83 targets for 467 yards, 120 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, 12 pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 75.7,” Farrar went on via Touchdown Wire. “If you wanted to avoid Sauce, throwing to Reed’s side of the field didn’t produce more positive options. As he showed on this deflection of a Josh Allen pass to Stefon Diggs in Week 9, Reed ran run with the best receivers, and he has the recovery speed to avoid getting turned around.”

Now, Gardner and Reed rank near the top of the NFL for cornerback pairings — some have even put them No. 1.

Jets CBs Compared Well With Rest of NFL as ‘Elite’ Cover Corners

In a 2022 end-of-year review of the Jets cornerback room via Jets X-Factor, analyst Oliver Cochrane broke down all the numbers regarding CB play. Eventually, he looked at how Gardner, Reed and nickel Michael Carter II stacked up against other NFL starters.

“Sauce Gardner [was] off in a special tier leading the league in forced incompletion rate, yet he also was above average in terms of creating interceptions when targeted,” Cochrane began while discussing the forced incompletion category. “His ball skills are certainly great.”

On Reed, he relayed: “Reed [was] also toward the front of the pack in terms of forced incompletion rate. To see him among the likes of James Bradberry, Jalen Ramsey, and even clearing Patrick Surtain II is an excellent sight to see.”

Carter checked in around the “middle of the pack,” per Cochrane.

Next up was targets and yards allowed per coverage snap — a key stat for cornerbacks.

“Sauce allowed yards at the lowest rate among qualifiers, with Reed sixth in that respect,” he detailed. “Sauce commanding the seventh-lowest target rate among qualifiers as a rookie shows the respect he’s earned with elite play. Teams learned quickly not to test him. Carter was on-par with the prediction of the linear regression model, though he certainly has room to improve.”

Cochrane’s final metric tested “ball hawks” versus “cover corners.” Both Gardner and Reed stood out as “elite” cover corners, even if their interception totals were a bit lower than others.

While concluding his breakdown, the Jets X-Factor writer also voiced that Reed’s “importance as a free agent signing last offseason can’t be undervalued, as a player and as a mentor to the young Gardner.” Based on that assessment, he’d likely agree with Farrar’s “secret superstar” label.