By Glenn Naughton
Looking for a band-aid to place on their hemorrhaging secondary, the Jets have plucked cornerback Nick Marshall off of the Jacksonville Jaguars practice squad. Marshall played cornerback at Georgia in 2011 before moving to quarterback at Auburn where he threw 34 touchdowns to 13 interceptions while completing 60.2% of his passes in 2 seasons. Marshall appeared in 13 games for the Jags last season, starting just one contest. According to Pro-Football reference, Marshall tallied 6 tackles and 1 pass defended.
Perhaps more importantly at this stage, is that Marshall has experience as a kick returner, something the Jets are without after cutting ties with wide receiver Jeremy Ross yesterday in favor of fellow receiver, Jeremy Butler. Last season in Jacksonville, Marshall returned 13 kicks for 346 yds, an average of 26.6 yards per attempt. Marshall also returned 5 punts for 30 yards in 2015.
With Darrelle Revis nursing a sore hamstring, last week’s surprise starting CB Darryl Roberts dinged up with a bad shoulder and struggling WR/KR Jalin Marshall’s status up in the air, the Jets secondary and return game is not only under-performing, but undermanned, hence the move to bolster the depth chart at both spots with a single player.
Given their struggles on offense and lack of quality options at the quarterback position, the Jets might want to take a look at Marshall under center at some point too. Just kidding…kind of.
