New York Jets Move Safety to Injured Reserve in Flurry of Transactions

The New York Jets reportedly made several moves as a way to start planning ahead for the 2025 season.

Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Brian Thomas Jr. (7) beats out New York Jets safety Chuck Clark (36) and cornerback Kendall Sheffield (27) for a touchdown score during the fourth quarter Sunday, Dec. 15, 2024 at EverBank Stadium in Jacksonville, Fla. The Jets held off the Jaguars 32-25. / Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The New York Jets reportedly made four roster moves on Monday, which included moving safety Chuck Clark to injured reserve.

ESPN reported the moves. The Jets did not formally announce them. Tuesday is an off-day for the team.  

Along with Clark, the Jets waived kicker Anders Carlson. They claimed two players off waivers — former Washington defensive tackle Phidarian Mathis and former Vikings linebacker Jamin Davis.

Clark has played in 12 of New York’s 16 games this season and has 69 tackles, a tackle for loss and a quarterback hit. He spent a month on injured reserve.

He returned to the field after missing all of the 2023 season due to an ACL tear. The former sixth-round pick in the 2017 NFL draft is a free agent after the season.

Carlson lost the kicking job last Sunday with the return of Greg Zuerlein, though the veteran did not have to attempt a field goal and left the kickoff duties to punter Thomas Morstead. Zuerlein missed more than a month with an injury. But, before that, he had the league’s worst field-goal percentage and was in danger of losing his job.

He was inactive on Sunday. With New York, Carlson made 8-fo-10 field goal attempts and missed two its 11 extra-point tries.

Davis is yet another former first-round pick the Jets have collected for their defense. The former Kentucky star joined Washington in 2021 and played his first three seasons with the Commanders, including a career-high 104 tackles in 2022.

But, Washington didn’t pick up his fifth-year option earlier this year and was released in late October. Since then, he signed with Green Bay’s practice squad, was signed by Minnesota to its 53-man roster in November and then was waived on Saturday.

Mathis was Washington’s second-round pick in 2022 out of Alabama and he reportedly had four different waiver claims put in for him on Monday. He finished his time with Washington with 25 total tackles.

Washington waived him on Sunday.

It’s possible both will be available for the Miami game. But, given that they were highly-regarded players coming out of college, New York made the moves thinking ahead to next season’s roster construction.

The direction of the franchise may change, depending upon who is hired to be New York’s general manager and head coach. That search is expected to continue this week with former Washington coach Ron Rivera set to interview for the head-coaching job.