Prior to Friday's practice, Jets HC Aaron Glenn said five players – including WR Garrett Wilson and CB Sauce Gardner – won't play vs. the Bengals Sunday in Cincinnati. Glenn, who continued to remain mum on his starting QB in Week 8, said Tyrod Taylor is questionable for Sunday's game due to a knee injury.
Wilson, the Jets' leading receiver, will miss his second consecutive game with a knee ailment, while Gardner, the club's No. 1 CB, will be inactive after sustaining a concussion during the Green & White's 13-6 loss to the Panthers last Sunday.
"Any time you lose a player of that caliber, it's always concerning because he's one of the best in this league," Glenn said of Gardner. "But we have other guys that have to step up and that's what this league is, man."
Rookie cornerback Azareye'h Thomas, a third-round pick from Florida State, will start his first NFL game for the Jets. After logging 42 defensive snaps and 84 special teams plays over his first seven games, Thomas (6-1, 197) is set to take center stage against arguably the NFL's top WR tandem of Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.
After Gardner went down against the Panthers, Thomas appeared in 27 defensive snaps and totaled 3 tackles and 1 PD. He also was in coverage on Andy Dalton's game-sealing 33-yard connection to Xavier Legette with 1:36 remaining.
"I thought he's done a pretty good job of being ready when called upon to be able to go play," Glenn said. "He made a play at the end of the game against Carolina and then they made a play on him, but that's the life of a corner and those things happen. The thing about him is he's not losing his confidence at all. I'm excited about how he's going to progress and how he's going to continue to progress, and he's going to be a key cog to what we do as he continues his years of playing."