(Image Credit: Kirby Lee/USA Today Sports)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick
In the past week, the New York Jets had to make tough decisions in order to get the roster from 90 players to 85 players due to the league’s rules. This as always will be the most difficult part of the preseason as you can't keep every player and some releases will result in a player's dream of making an NFL roster ending. For the 2nd NFL cut day, the New York Jets had made the decision to release five different players on their current active roster. Let's now take a look at the five players that the New York Jets and General Manager Joe Douglas have released from the Jets.
1. WR Josh Malone - Malone was taken in the 4th round 128th overall by the Cincinnati Bengals. He spent two years with the team and was released. He would spend the next two seasons on the New York Jets mainly as a practice squad player. The Jets including GM Joe Douglas saw something in him as he kept him around that long and kept getting chance after chance with the team. Malone’s release was not a shock to me as he was barely on the football field during the preseason. He was mainly a background player on special teams and on the sidelines. There wasn't a big chance he would have had an impact on offense due to how crowded the receiver core is. Malone absolutely needed to have an impact on special teams if he wanted to have a chance of making the roster. Unfortunately, he did not, resulting in his unsurprising release.
2. WR Manasseh Bailey - Bailey was signed after the 2020 NFL by the Philadelphia Eagles. He was not on the team for long and eventually joined the Los Angeles Chargers practice squad. He was then signed to a futures contract with the New York Jets, until today when he was released. Again this release was not a big surprise to me as again he like Josh Malone was barely on the football field. There were glimpses of him seen in special teams where he did make tackles to stop returners but did not impress at all. He did have a catch for 12 yards as well vs the New York Giants but that is all I remember for Manasseh Bailey during his tenure with the New York Jets. But like I said, the receiving core for the New York Jets is too crowded and the Jets needed to cut players. Bailey wasn't going to be as strongly utilized on offense as other receivers were, including Jeff Smith, Vyncint Smith, and DJ Montgomery. So his release did not shock me at all when I saw he was cut.
With both Josh Malone and Manasseh Bailey being released from the New York Jets current roster, there are now 10 active wide receivers on the roster including Jamison Crowder, Corey Davis, Elijah Moore, Braxton Berrios, Keelan Cole, Denzel Mims, Lawrence Cager, DJ Montgomery, Jeff Smith, and Vyncint Smith
3. OL Tristen Hoge - Hoge was signed by the New York Jets after he went undrafted during the 2021 NFL Draft. Again not a surprise that he was released from the team. Hoge was very inconsistent with his play and was not a good run blocker for the team. Hoge was decent as a pass protector but he was terrible with his footwork and sloppy with how he utilized his hands. Now, Tristen Hoge is young and I do believe that he will get another opportunity in the league but it will not be with the New York Jets. With Tristen Hoge being released from the New York Jets current roster, there are now 13 active offensive linemen including Mekhi Becton, Alijah Vera-Tucker, Connor McGovern, Chuma Edoga, George Fant, Dan Feeney, Morgan Moses, Conor McDermott, Greg Van Roten, Corey Levin, David Moore, James Murray, and Grant Hermanns.
4. LB Edmond Robinson - Robinson was taken in the 7th round 232nd overall by the Minnesota Vikings where he spent two seasons with the team. He actually had a brief tenure with both the New York Jets and Arizona Cardinals during the 2017 season. Robinson played on the AAF Arizona Hotshots and the XFL’s Houston Roughnecks. He returned to the NFL by signing with the Atlanta Falcons during the 2020 season. He then signed with the New York Jets on August 6th, 2021 due to his experience both on defense and special teams. This release was not a surprise to me as Robinson wasn't really utilized that much on defense. His value was mainly on special teams and he did not perform well versus both the Giants and Packers. So when I heard of Robinson’s release I was not surprised at all. To me when he was signed he was mainly a camp body on the team during the last few weeks. With Edmond Robinson being released from the New York Jets' current roster, there are now 8 linebackers that are available including CJ Mosley, Hamsah Nasirildeen, Jamien Sherwood, Blake Cashman, Jarrad Davis, Milo Eifler, Noah Dawkins, and Del’Shawn Phillips.
5. CB Corey Ballentine - Ballentine was taken in the 6th round 180th overall by the New York Giants where he would spend two seasons with the team. He was claimed by the New York Jets after the Giants made the decision to release him. A lot of people were criticizing this move as he had a 73-yard kick return during the latest preseason game against the Green Bay Packers. Which was impressive but Corey Ballentine was incredibly inconsistent on special teams throughout his tenure with the New York Jets. The biggest issue with Ballentine and the reason why he was cut is that he was a big liability on defense. He was absolutely terrible in coverage, look at his performance against the New York Giants. He had a total of three players wide open for possible touchdowns and luckily the Giants had Clayton Thorson at quarterback who was terrible vs the Jets. He let Damien Willis wide open to score an easy 21-yard touchdown. That play was the moment Corey Ballentine’s chances of making the roster dropped. Honestly, I was shocked they did not let him go after the Giants game but they wanted to give him another chance to impress. Unfortunately, Ballentine’s performance on defense vs the Packers did not impress which led to him being released. With Corey Ballentine being released from the current New York Jets roster, there are now 9 active cornerbacks on the roster including Bless Austin, Bryce Hall, Michael Carter II, Javelin Guidry, Justin Hardee, Brandon Echols, Jason Pinnock, Isaiah Dunn, and Lamar Jackson.
Again it stinks that these moves had to be made but the NFL is a business. I hope that Josh Malone, Manasseh Bailey, Tristen Hoge, Edmond Robinson, and Corey Ballentine all get another opportunity in the NFL.