Image Credit: (Gary Klien/Los Angeles Times)
Written by: Nicholas Mullick Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-mullick-354076184/
Twitter: @nicholasmullick
So with the pre-season here, the one question on everybody’s mind is who will or will not make the roster. However, there are times when a cut has been made and it is absolutely stunning to see. So I decided why not make a writing series and call it The Stunning Cut. In this series, I am going to talk about a release that was made either in pre-season or sometimes in the middle of the season. So for today, I have decided to talk about DE/EDGE Jachai Polite who in my opinion is one of the worst draft choices in New York Jets history. But when it was announced that he was cut, I could not believe it and it left me stunned.
Who is Jachai Polite?
Jachai Polite when he entered college football some had him labeled as a 3-star recruit and others had him in the 4 stars. A lot of colleges were trying to recruit him including Auburn, USC, Georgia Tech, Iowa State, UNC, etc. But he chose to go to college at the University of Florida. While injuries took him out of most of his freshman and sophomore seasons, Polite was a fantastic player on defense in his junior year. He was even at one point projected as a 1st round pick in the 2019 NFL Draft. But there were issues with him off the field and it showed at the combine where he gave a bad impression on some teams. So he fell to the 3rd round 69th overall where the New York Jets selected him. On the field Polite has talent and the team needed pass-rushing help. I remembered that he was going to be projected as the starter for the team. He did not do great in the preseason, but as he was a rookie sometimes it might take a few years of development. Well, that did not happen.
Final Cut Day
Then it got to final cut day and I was excited at the time to see who made the roster. While going through the final cut list and I read Jachai Polite’s name I was just shocked. I never would believe that Polite, a 3rd round pick not even 5 months ago would be on that list. I was stunned for a few days until I started looking into Polite and it turns out that the guy was a distraction. The news was starting to come out against Polite where in those 5 months he was fined 100 thousand dollars due to violating multiple team rules. The most common one was being late to a bunch of meetings and practices. The one to me that sealed his fate was being late for the meeting after the final preseason game. The Jets had to make a message that this will not stand and the Jets decided to cut all ties with him.
The Aftermath of Polite Getting Cut
Cutting Jachai Polite for me goes to show how bad of a drafting GM Mike Macaggnan was excluding the third round. I mean keep in mind after the 2019 NFL Draft the Jets made the questionable decision to fire Maccagnan at the end of the offseason, which makes no sense as the timing. But drafting Polite absolutely backfired and it was a waste of a 3rd round pick and Polite’s name is an add-on to the long list of draft busts that this team has made.
As for Jachai Polite, his career in the NFL did not turn out well. Once he got cut from the Jets he did not get claimed on waivers, which is very telling. But then Seattle came calling and signed Polite to their practice squad in September. He did not even last a month and was released from Seattle. Then the Los Angeles Rams came and signed him to their practice squad for the entire 2019 season. For the 2020 season, Polite did not do much, excluding sacking Alex Smith against the Washington Football Team. Polite was again on and off their practice squad until officially getting cut from the Rams. Polite then signed a deal in the Canadian Football League with the Toronto Argonauts. But as I was writing this, he was recently released from the Argonauts. When you can’t make a CFL roster, your career is done. I mean this clearly was a stunning cut when it was made, but looking back I should not have been surprised. I mean here was a guy who went from a potential 1st round pick to falling in the 3rd round, to getting cut not even 5 months into his professional career. It is quite a fall from grace for Jachai Polite.