New York Jets Place All-Pro Offensive Tackle on Injured Reserve

The New York Jets opened up a roster spot by moving their All-Pro left tackle to injured reserve in advance of Sunday's game.

Darren Yamashita-Imagn Images

The New York Jets have made several roster moves on Saturday afternoon, the most notable of which is placing left tackle Tyron Smith on injured reserve and likely ending the season of the 33-year-old.

Smith has started 10 games for the Jets this season after being signed in the offseason coming off 13 seasons with the Dallas Cowboys. He suffered a neck injury during the Week 10 matchup against the Arizona Cardinals which forced him to miss last week's game against the Indianapolis Colts.

Smith can come off IR after four games, but with six games remaining in the season, it's possible that Smith doesn't return in 2024.

This moved opened up a roster spot for offensive lineman Xavier Newman to be activated from IR. The Jets also elevated running back Kene Nwangwu to the active roster for Sunday's game.

With performance that started to decline over the years — largely due to repeated injury history — signing Smith was always going to be a gamble for New York as to whether he could get through an entire season. New York gave Smith a veteran rest day every week to help him manage his workload and keep him fresh for gameday.

It's far from a financial disaster however as the deal was loaded with playing time related incentives including a $12 million bonus for playing 98 percent of the offensive snaps.

Rich Cimini of ESPN reports that his current snap projection sees Smith around 64 percent which would result in a bonus of $4.75 million.

Smith was drafted by Dallas with the No. 9 overall selection in the 2011 NFL Draft out of USC and has started 171 games in his career, a large portion of which saw him as one of the best in the league. He was named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame's All-Decade Team of the 2010s along with making eight Pro Bowls, two First-Team All-Pro selections and three Second-Team selections as well.

His total contract was worth up to $20 million for the one-year deal with the Jets, but Smith will not come close to reaching that number and likely has now played his final game with the team. It's also highly probably that Smith could decide to call it a career after another injury in his long line of issues that have kept him off the field.

It's just the latest development in what has been a very long and difficult season for the New York Jets with no signs of getting much better anytime soon.