What five practices changed
Five practices are not enough evidence to call anything settled, but they are enough to update JetCast’s Jets 53-man roster projection for the first time since training camp opened. The quarterback change remains Cade Klubnik in and Bailey Zappe out. In the cornerback projection, Nahshon Wright and Qwan’tez Stiggers now replace Tre Brown and Samuel Womack.
This is a JetCast editorial projection, not an official depth chart, a transaction report or a cut list. It reflects what practice observers have charted and reported through Day 5, and it will keep changing as camp does. Zappe remains an active player on the Jets roster; he is simply not who JetCast currently projects to make the 53.
Five practices give us real information: how a player throws under pressure, who wins one-on-ones, which battles are separating from the pack. They do not give us a final answer. Treat this update as where the evidence points today, not a prediction locked in for September.
Updated Jets 53-man roster projection
Here is JetCast’s updated projected 53. This is our editorial projection, not a Jets announcement. The changes from our prior projection are Klubnik in for Zappe at quarterback and Wright and Stiggers in for Brown and Womack at cornerback.
- Quarterback (2): Geno Smith, Cade Klubnik
- Running back (4): Breece Hall, Braelon Allen, Isaiah Davis, Kene Nwangwu
- Fullback (1): Andrew Beck
- Wide receiver (6): Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Omar Cooper Jr., Tim Patrick, Arian Smith, Isaiah Williams
- Tight end (3): Mason Taylor, Jeremy Ruckert, Kenyon Sadiq
- Offensive tackle (4): Olumuyiwa Fashanu, Armand Membou, Max Mitchell, Chukwuma Okorafor
- Guard (4): Marquis Hayes, Xavier Hill, Dylan Parham, Anez Cooper
- Center (2): Josh Myers, Joe Tippmann
- Defensive line (9): Will McDonald IV, Joseph Ossai, Braiden McGregor, Jowon Briggs, Tyler Baron, Harrison Phillips, David Onyemata, Mazi Smith, T’Vondre Sweat
- Linebacker (6): Demario Davis, Jamien Sherwood, Francisco Mauigoa, Kingsley Enagbare, Mykal Walker, David Bailey
- Cornerback (5): Azareye’h Thomas, Brandon Stephens, D’Angelo Ponds, Nahshon Wright, Qwan’tez Stiggers
- Safety (4): Minkah Fitzpatrick, Andre Cisco, Malachi Moore, Dane Belton
- Specialists (3): Jason Sanders, Austin McNamara, Thomas Hennessy
Why Cade Klubnik makes this projected 53
The case for Klubnik is built on repetition, not one highlight. He has taken meaningful team-period work across the first week, and the evidence through Days 3 to 5 is mixed enough to be honest about, but positive enough to move him ahead of Zappe in this exercise.
Day 3 was the roughest data point. Rich Cimini reported that Klubnik had been having a solid day before Qwan’tez Stiggers intercepted him near the end zone, and Cimini thought the throw looked late. JetCast’s Day 3 camp report covers the rest of that practice.
Day 4 was steadier. Zack Rosenblatt charted Klubnik at 4 of 6 in 11-on-11 work and 4 of 6 in 7-on-7 during a rainy, padded practice. These are Rosenblatt’s unofficial practice charts, not a roster decision. See JetCast’s Day 4 recap for the full practice picture.
Day 5 supplied the strongest positive evaluator language. Cimini charted Klubnik at 6 of 11, while Rosenblatt had him at 6 of 10 in 11-on-11 and 3 of 3 in 7-on-7. That one-attempt gap between the two charts is real and worth preserving rather than smoothing over. Nick Faria called Klubnik excellent that day and praised his reads and delivery, an evaluation worth noting as Faria’s own read rather than a team grade. Cimini also reported a Klubnik deep completion to Isaiah Williams in one-on-ones. For more on how Klubnik arrived at this point, see JetCast’s earlier breakdown of his camp test.
None of that adds up to an official decision. Zappe is still on the Jets’ active roster, and nothing here says the team has made this swap itself. It says the practice evidence, as charted and reported by multiple observers, supports JetCast projecting Klubnik into the 53 ahead of him right now.
The receiver room has clearer edges
Isaiah Williams and Omar Cooper Jr. both remain in JetCast’s projected six receivers, and the last week gave each of them a reason to stay there.
Williams supplied a corroborated Day 5 receiver rep. Zack Rosenblatt and Nick Faria independently reported his late Day 5 sliding catch from Geno Smith, and Cimini separately reported the earlier Klubnik-to-Williams completion in one-on-ones. Two reporters landing on the same catch independently is a stronger signal than a single account, and it is covered in full in JetCast’s Day 5 camp report.
Cooper’s case is thinner but still real. According to JetCast’s Day 4 camp report, he turned a Day 4 deep ball into a positively reported catch, which supports keeping him in the projected six, though one catch is not a role decision on its own. JetCast’s earlier piece on Cooper’s versatility lays out the versatility question attached to Cooper’s roster case.
Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Tim Patrick and Arian Smith round out the projected six. Their inclusion here is JetCast’s editorial projection and does not establish a team decision. This remains JetCast’s editorial read on a receiver room that can still move as more practices are charted.
The defensive bubble is still unsettled
David Bailey’s file through five practices is genuinely mixed, and JetCast is keeping it that way rather than forcing a conclusion. Day 2 supplied real pass-rush flashes. Days 3 through 5 supplied run-fit and discipline questions, including good reps from Armand Membou against him. Both sides of that file are worth reading in full: JetCast’s earlier breakdown of Bailey’s discipline questions and earlier Membou context both apply here, alongside the Days 3 through 5 evidence in JetCast’s Day 5 camp report. Bailey stays in the projected 53 for now, but the edge math in this room remains unsettled.
Azareye’h Thomas stays projected as well. Nick Faria reported positive observations on both Day 4 and Day 5, and neither report establishes an official depth-chart decision; it is evaluator language, not a team announcement.
Nahshon Wright and Qwan’tez Stiggers now make JetCast’s projected 53. Faria reported a Day 4 pass breakup for Wright. Cimini reported that Stiggers intercepted Cade Klubnik near the end zone on Day 3. Those are practice observations, not official roster decisions.
At kicker, Jason Sanders’ Day 5 numbers support his spot in the projection. Cimini and Rosenblatt both reported Sanders at 8 of 8 and Cade York at 7 of 8 on Day 5, though the two reporters disagreed on the distance of York’s miss, so that detail is left out here rather than guessed at.
What this projection still cannot prove
Five practices are useful, but they are not a transaction log. Nothing in this piece should be read as the Jets making a decision, filing a move or updating an official depth chart. Charted completions, sideline observations and evaluator praise are all real inputs, but they come from reporters working the practice fields, not from the team’s own personnel decisions.
Zappe is still on the active roster. Brady Cook remains active and is competing for a developmental role in the quarterback room. The August 5 NFL.com roster snapshot lists both players as active, and both are simply outside JetCast’s current projected 53, which is an editorial exercise built on the evidence available through Day 5.
That evidence will keep changing. More practice evidence and preseason games still remain before the Jets have to make their real decisions, and this projection will keep moving with them. For now, this is where five practices point, not where final cuts will land.
JetCast will keep this projection updated as camp continues, and any further swaps will be flagged with the same standard applied here: named attribution, a distinction between reporter charting and official statistics, and a clear line between an editorial projection and an actual roster decision. This projection may change as more evidence arrives from practice logs and preseason games.
