Position Reset for '25
When the Jets' No. 1 tight end last season Tyler Conklin signed in free agency with the Chargers in the offseason, rookie GM Darren Mougey and rookie HC Aaron Glenn knew there was a lot of work to do at the position. In addition to Conklin (who played in 50 of 51 games over three seasons and caught 170 passes), reserve TE Kenny Yeboah also departed (DET).
They didn't waste much time, snapping up the Chargers' reserve TE, Stone Smartt (6-4, 226). Smartt, 26, caught 27 passes for 363 yards (13.4 per catch) over the past two seasons. Eighteen of his 31 career catches were for first downs. After the Jets drafted Mason Taylor (6-5, 256) out of LSU in the second round of the draft (No. 42 overall) and with Jeremy Ruckert (6-5, 250) entering his fourth year after a modest three seasons, Smartt will be battling for time in a group that also includes second-year man Zack Kuntz (6-8, 251), 1st-year pro Neal Johnson (6-4, 250) and hybrid Andrew Beck (6-3, 255).
"That's another player that I think he's improved quite a bit," Glenn said of Ruckert, who has 35 catches for 264 yards (without a TD). "That's another player, actually, that I had a chance to talk with face-to-face and told him about the things that he needs to improve on. He wants to be good. He comes from a really good program [Ohio State, having played there with QB Justin Fields], and we have a number of guys from that program [including WR Garrett Wilson and OL Josh Myers]. And I've stressed him pretty hard throughout this camp because I think there's a lot of meat on the bone with that player. Good size, long arms. I think he can help us in the passing game. Obviously, he's going to be a really good blocker for us, but there's some technical things that he had to improve on, and he's doing everything he can to improve on those things."