Jets Country

Robert Saleh Provides Update on Severity of Marcus Maye's Ankle Injury

New York Jets safety Marcus Maye has a sprained ankle. Head coach Robert Saleh provided an update on the severity of the injury and how many games he will miss.

Max Goodman

Reports surfaced on Wednesday that veteran safety Marcus Maye was going to miss three-to-four weeks with an ankle injury, a huge blow to a banged up secondary.  

On Friday, head coach Robert Saleh filled in some of the blanks regarding what exactly happened with Maye's ankle and just how serious the injury is. 

"He suffered it in the game, but he still finished," Saleh said, referring to New York's 26-0 loss in Denver last Sunday. "Wasn’t anything to be concerned about. Came in Monday, got a little bit of treatment, still no concern. Tuesday, pain kind of was elevating so we went to get some more further tests and the tests didn’t come in until mid-afternoon Wednesday, when everything broke. We weren’t expecting him to be out this week and it was a free fall from Wednesday."

The injury—an ankle sprain, per Saleh—will in fact keep Maye sidelined for the next several weeks. The plan, as of now, is for Maye to suit up in Week 7—following Gang Green's bye week—against the Patriots. 

As for how New York will try to fill the void left behind by one of their leaders on defense, Saleh mentioned both Ashtyn Davis and Sharrod Neasman, two safeties that returned to practice from injuries earlier in the week. 

"Obviously, we can’t get [Ashtyn] a full game in there because he hasn’t played football in a year, but we do plan on getting him part of the rotation, along with Jarrod Wilson and Neasman," Saleh explained. "They’re both back. We’ll have a good little rotation in there and play the hot hand, but they’ve all got to be ready to play."

READ: Why Jets-Titans Means More to Wide Receiver Corey Davis

Even with a group of safeties hungry to be New York's next man up, it's hard to ignore just how big of a loss Maye is for the next few weeks.

"It’s frustrating, obviously, when guys get hurt. You never want it to happen and the thing about Marcus was, I think he was finally starting to really grasp what we we’re doing," defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich told reporters. "I thought he was getting better every single week. So, it’s going to hurt missing him."

With Maye's agent tweeting out that the safety would be healthy prior to this season's trade deadline—and the history between the Jets and Maye after contract negotiations went south this offseason—Saleh was asked if he's concerned that Maye could position himself for a trade. 

"There’s none. Marcus has been doing a heck of a job for us and he’s been everything we’ve expected," Saleh said. "He’s been a pleasure to work with and he’s gotten better every single week and we’re just excited to get him back so he can stack up great days and show why he’s one of the better safeties in this league."

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Jets for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. He also covers the New York Yankees, publisher  of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Yankees site, Inside The Pinstripes. Before starting out with SI, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. While at school, Goodman gathered valuable experience as an anchor and reporter on NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. Goodman previously interned at MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman and connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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