The Jets will open their season in Nashville tomorrow, and they will be doing so down one of their six wide receivers. According to Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic, New York is placing wide receiver Tim Patrick on injured reserve today. Additionally, veteran kicker Jason Sanders will be joining Blake Grupe on the active roster as a standard practice squad elevation in what appears to be an ongoing position battle.
An undrafted player out of Utah, Patrick’s NFL career got off to a slow start, spending his rookie offseason in Baltimore and preseason in San Francisco before getting cut at the deadline. A month and a half later, Patrick would sign to the Broncos’ practice squad. He didn’t appear in any games as a rookie, making his debut in Year 2 with the Broncos. He played a modest role in the offense but proved to be a promising deep threat. Injuries marred his third season, but in eight games he continued to flash potential.
The Broncos stuck with Patrick, though, and he rewarded them over the 2020 and 2021 seasons, combining for 104 receptions for 1,476 yards and 11 touchdowns over that time. Halfway through his 2021 campaign, Denver extended Patrick on a three-year, $34.5MM deal, but a torn ACL followed by a torn Achilles tendon would forced him to miss back-to-back seasons in 2022 & 2023. Denver released Patrick from his deal at that point, and he spent the next two seasons with the Lions and Jaguars, combining for 48 catches for 581 yards and six touchdowns as he attempted to regain his pre-injury form.
Patrick found himself dealing with injuries again this summer, though, getting placed on the team’s active/physically unable to perform list. He was activated in late July, but returns to an injured list today, this time to IR. Without Patrick, the Jets will move forward with projected starters Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, and rookie first-round pick Omar Cooper Jr. with Isaiah Williams and Arian Smith backing them up. They also have Jamaal Pritchett and Malik McClain on the practice squad, though either player would be making their NFL debut were they to be called up.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter did announce that running back Kene Nwangwu, who is expected to be the team’s return specialist on kickoffs, would be out for the season opener, so Pritchett’s return experience from his time at South Alabama might give him a shot at taking Patrick’s spot on the 53-man roster.
Sanders’ journey with the Jets has been a rollercoaster. After missing the 2025 season with a hip injury, Sanders found his way to New York, initially, as a Giant. They ruled Sanders out of a kicking battle that included Ben Sauls and undrafted rookie Dominic Zvada, but Sanders rebounded with the Jets, entering a new competition with Cade York and eventually winning it. Grupe was in a kicking competition of his own in Indianapolis, losing out to Spencer Shrader and getting waived.
The Jets claimed Grupe off waivers and seemed to announced him as the winner of the kicking competition in New York after releasing Sanders. They eventually brought the veteran back to the practice squad, though, and will elevate him for Sunday’s game. According to Brian Costello of the New York Post, Sanders will handle kicking duties tomorrow against the Titans before reverting back to the practice squad after the game.