There don’t appear to be any doubts about Jets running back Breece Hall’s status for Sunday’s road game against the Titans.
Hall missed a couple of weeks with a groin injury, but he was listed as a full participant in practice for the second straight day on Tuesday. Hall said he’s feeling ready to go after the unexpected time off.
“It was actually a very good two-week vacation,” Hall said, via SNY. “I could have been out there a little bit earlier, but the team — I’m thankful they were very cautious with me. It was a real good vacation and I feel really fresh now.”
The Jets’ entire injury report was unchanged from Wednesday. Linebacker Joseph Ossai (foot) and wide receiver Tim Patrick (groin) remained off the field while rookie cornerback DeAngelo Ponds (calf) was limited. Running back Isaiah Davis (knee) and tight end Kenyon Sadiq (groin) joined Hall as full participants.
Titans Clips
In late June, former NFL running back Chris Johnson disclosed that he suffers from ALS. The announcement came during an interview with Good Morning America.
The segment raised questions about Michael Strahan’s decision to not ask Johnson whether he believes football contributed to his ALS, and regarding the failure of the narration accompanying the interview or the discussion following it to mention the link between football and ALS.
The connection is undeniable; for example, an ALS diagnosis triggers automatic eligibility for participation in the concussion settlement, for qualified retired players.
In a letter to his children posted at The Players Tribune, Johnson acknowledges the possibility that football caused his ALS.
“I’ve seen a lot of neurologists at this point and been to basically every major ALS clinic in the country, and in my experience, as soon as you say you played football it’s like, ‘Ahh, OK,’” Johnson writes. “Almost like an understanding, you know? I read one study, and from my understanding, it found that former NFL players were nearly four times as likely to develop and pass away from ALS compared with the U.S. male population overall. That was a shock. And to be clear, your dad’s not an expert, and that’s just one study, and there might be other environmental factors at play. Anybody can get ALS.”
He’s right that anyone can get ALS. The study to which Johnson refers emerged in early July. The fact that the information came as a “shock” to Johnson underscores the importance of ensuring that football players factor the risk, even if it’s small, into their decision to play football.
The risk of immediate injury from football is obvious. The risk of concussion is clear, too, along with the possibility of developing CTE. Johnson’s situation, coupled with the recent study, leaves no doubt that playing football introduces an enhanced possibility of eventually developing a disease that will attack the body in a way that no other disease does.
Most players will nevertheless accept that risk, given the good things football can do for them and their families. Still, it’s important that they know about the risk.
Chris Johnson didn’t. Due to his experience, and his willingness to share it, all players should be aware that the possibility of developing ALS is one of the risks they assume.
The Titans did some shuffling of their 53-man roster ahead of Sunday’s opener against the Jets.
They announced the signing of free agent cornerback Jaylon Jones. Cornerback Melvin Smith was waived in a corresponding move.
Jones was waived by the Colts earlier this week. He was a seventh-round pick in 2023 and appeared in 44 games for Indianapolis over the last three seasons.
Jones started 29 of those games and recorded 162 tackles, five tackles for loss, two interceptions, and 21 passes defensed during his time with the team.
Smith was claimed off of waivers from the Chiefs at the end of August. He spent most of last season on Kansas City’s practice squad.
Jets running back Breece Hall was listed as a full participant in Wednesday’s practice, which puts him on track to play against the Titans in Week 1 after missing a chunk of time this summer with a groin injury.
Given Hall’s missed time, it makes sense that offensive coordinator Frank Reich was asked at a Thursday press conference if the team is planning to manage his workload in Tennessee this weekend.
“My mindset is, if he’s healthy, he’s healthy,” Reich said, via SNY. “We always like to kind of rotate guys a little bit anyway, but, unless [head coach Aaron Glenn] and the training staff kind of give us a rep count, we just play ball.”
Braelon Allen is the No. 2 back for the Jets with Isaiah Davis also on hand as a backfield option for Reich in his first game calling the shots for the Jets’ offense.
Jets head coach Aaron Glenn gave an optimistic update on running back Breece Hall’s availability earlier this week and Wednesday’s practice report does the same.
Hall was listed as a full participant in practice as the Jets prepare for their road opener against the Titans. Hall has been dealing with a groin injury, but Glenn said he is “trending towards playing” in Week 1.
First-round pick Kenyon Sadiq is on the same trajectory. The tight end had hernia surgery this summer and joined Hall as a full participant on the estimated practice report.
Linebacker Joseph Ossai (foot) and wide receiver Tim Patrick (groin) did not practice. Glenn indicated that Ossai will miss at least one game with the injury.
Cornerback DeAngelo Ponds (calf) was a limited participant and running back Isaiah Davis (knee) joined Hall and Sadiq as a full participant.
The days leading up to the start of the 2026 season have seen most teams name their captains and one trend around the league has been an expanded number of players wearing “C” on their jerseys.
The Titans are taking more of an old school approach. The team announced on Wednesday that they will have three captains for the 2026 season.
Quarterback Cam Ward represents the offense, defensive tackle Jeffery Simmons represents the defense, and long snapper Morgan Cox was the choice on special teams. All three players were also captains in 2025 with Simmons earning the honor for the sixth straight year and Cox running his streak to four in a row.
The three captains will lead their team against the Jets in Sunday’s home opener.
Former Titans scout Blaise Taylor will be spending the rest of his life in prison. Twice.
Taylor, convicted of poisoning his girlfriend, Jade Benning, and their unborn child on July 1, received a sentence on Wednesday of consecutive life terms.
More than 80 people submitted letters vouching for Taylor’s character. Nashville assistant district attorney Jan Norman responded to that effort in court on Wednesday.
“Your honor, the defense just submitted 87 letters all speaking to Mr. Taylor’s character,” Norman said, via Alicia Patton of WKRN.com. “They describe a man of honor, honesty, a man of great accomplishments and as someone who has faith in the Lord and was raised by a strong family. More than one of the authors of those letters actually stated he is someone they would want their own daughters to marry. The person described in these character letters, the authors themselves, not one mentioned Jade Benning, not one of them mentioned baby Ivy, and not one single letter out of the 87 letters mentioned anything about what Blaise Taylor did.”
Taylor’s attorney, Letitia Quinones-Hollins, issued a statement regarding the sentence imposed on Taylor.
“We are extremely disappointed but not surprised by the harsh sentence,” Quinones-Hollins said. “This was a flawed trial of a tenuous case, and we will appeal and look forward to doing so.”
It’s the only thing Taylor can do. Given the outcome of the case, the choices are to roll the dice on getting a new trial or scrapping the charges entirely, or sit behind bars until the day he dies.
Unless and until an appellate court disagrees with the outcome, the official position of the state of Tennessee is that Taylor committed murder of his girlfriend and their child, in a particularly heinous way. It’s for Quinones-Hollins to show that mistakes were made at trial that require the status quo to change.
The Vikings added another veteran outside linebacker to their practice squad on Wednesday.
The team announced the signing of Jihad Ward. They also added Kyle Van Noy to the practice squad earlier this month.
Ward spent the 2024 season with the Vikings and moved on to start 12 games with the Titans last year. He had 31 tackles, five sacks and 22 quarterback hits for Tennessee.
Ward was a 2016 Raiders second-round pick and he has also played for the Colts, Ravens, Jaguars and Giants. He has 199 tackles, 24 sacks, three forced fumbles and five fumble recoveries over his entire career.
The Jets are set at most of the key spots in their lineup heading into Sunday’s opener against the Titans, but there’s one position that’s still up in the air.
Kicker Blake Grupe was claimed off of waivers last week, which led to Jason Sanders being released from the active roster. Sanders returned to the practice squad, however, and head coach Aaron Glenn said on Tuesday that he has not made a call about who will handle the role in Nashville.
Glenn said the team will “make the right decision when that decision needs to be done.”
“I said it before, I’m not going to panic about that situation,” Glenn said, via the team’s website. “I think they’re both capable men, all right. And at the end of the day, we got to pick one guy that’s going to be a kicker.”
The overall arc of the Jets’ season will likely be more reliant on other positions, but the wrong choice at kicker could cost the team chances to win games and that makes it a big choice for Glenn to make as he tries to improve on a disappointing first season at the helm.
When he was in Seattle, Geno Smith once famously said after a victory, “They wrote me off; I ain’t write back, though.” He’s back again in New York, where Jets fans and the team once wrote him off.
On Sunday against the Titans, Smith will make his first start for the Jets since Oct. 23, 2016. He left for the Giants the following offseason but returned this offseason in a trade from the Raiders.
“First of all, it’s an honor to be back here and have the opportunity to be a part of this organization again, to lead this team, this young, talented group of guys who work extremely hard,” Smith said Tuesday, via video from the team. “I find myself just looking forward to each and every day, coming to work and giving my all for these guys. It’s really special to family and I [sic], and we look forward to every single day.”
Smith, who turns 36 next month, has played for the Giants, Chargers, Seahawks and Raiders. He is a different — more experienced and more mature — quarterback than the one who left the Jets.
The goal, though, hasn’t changed between his first 30 starts for the team and now.
“It starts with wins, and it ends with wins,” Smith said. “That’s all that matters in this league. It’s the win-and-loss column. Win as many games as we can.”
The Jets haven’t done a lot of winning since well before Smith arrived as a second-round pick in 2013. They last made the playoffs in 2010 and last had a winning record in 2015.
