It hasn’t been a great year for the New York Jets by any stretch and in any phase of the game. The offense has been mediocre. The defense has been a turnstile when it is needed most and the special teams have been bad. And they are about to get worse.

The New York Jets are placing special teams standout Irv Charles on IR with an ACL injury. Charles will undergo surgery soon to repair the damage. He was hurt while covering a punt early in the fourth quarter of the Jets 32-26 loss to the Miami Dolphins this week.

The 27-year-old Charles originally signed on with the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Indiana Pennsylvania in 2022. He was among New York’s final roster cuts as a rookie and has bounced on and off their practice squad ever since.

This season, Charles appeared in 13 games for the Jets and recorded seven tackles. He was quickly becoming one of the top special teamers in the NFL, even facing a triple-team of blockers on a play against Seattle two weeks ago. Charles also blocked a punt earlier this season.

“In a very tough, challenging year in a lot of ways, an absolute bright spot for this team,” interim coach Jeff Ulbrich said of Charles. “I really believe had he finished the season playing the way he was playing, he would’ve been a shoo-in for (the) Pro Bowl as far as the special teams player is concerned, the core player.”

Taking his spot on the roster will be Jaylin Simpson, a cornerback who the Jets signed off the Indianapolis Colts’ practice squad. Simpson is rookie out of Auburn who the Colts selected in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.

The Jets will be looking to get to the end of the season without any more major injuries that could affect the team next season. Breece Hall is currently dealing with a knee issue that kept him out of the loss to the Dolphins and seems to be lingering longer than the Jets would like.

“He’s struggling a bit, so we’ll see how he goes this week,” Ulbrich said, adding that Hall has been “playing with a little bit of pain and fighting his way through” it the last few weeks.

“It’s a thing that it’s maybe not improving as much as he’d like at this point,” Ulbrich said.

I imagine for most of the players on the Jets, the offseason can’t get here soon enough.

Jets have wasted the premier talents of Garrett Wilson and it could be the beginning of the end

You need good players to turn around a franchise. You need more good players to keep them there. The Jets got the first part right, but are failing miserably at the second part. After another loss, this time in overtime to their divisional rival Miami Dolphins, the New York Jets sit at 3-10 in a […]