The New York Jets recently signed former New England Patriots offensive lineman Liam Fornadel. Today we break Fornadel down in detail.
The 26-year old Fornadel is listed at 6’4” and 312 pounds and was undrafted out of James Madison in 2022. He had never played in an NFL regular season game but spent time with New England in 2024. However, he’s been a three-year starter and all-star at the XFL/UFL level.
Background
Fornadel is a local product who attended Don Bosco Prep and was a three-star high school recruit.
He headed to James Madison in 2017 and he saw action in 15 games, starting two as a true freshman. Thereafter, he became a full-time starter with 29 starts over the next two years as he was a second team all-CAA selection in 2018, and a first teamer and FCS all-American in 2019 with JMU winning the FCS title.
The pandemic and an injury limited him to 10 starts over the next two seasons, but Fornadel ended his career with 41 starts in 54 appearances.
After his pro day and an appearance at the Hula Bowl, Fornadel wasn’t able to earn an NFL contract so he went to Canada and signed for the Winnipeg Blue Bombers but did not play there. Instead, he returned to play for the XFL’s DC Defenders in 2023, and played for them again in the UFL in 2024.
After starting 12 games and being named all-XFL in 2023, Fornadel was in the top five offensive linemen for run blocking, pass blocking and overall grade in 2024 according to Pro Football Focus.
After the season ended, New England signed Fornadel in June and he went to camp with them and played three preseason games with them. While he was released in final cuts, he spent most of the season on the Patriots’ practice squad before being released in December.
Fornadel returned to Defenders for the 2025 UFL season and posted the best pass blocking grade of any offensive lineman and the best overall grade for any guard according to PFF. The Defenders also won the UFL title.
The Jets signed him early on in camp after Gus Hartwig was lost for the season due to injury.
Let’s move onto some more in-depth analysis of what Fornadel brings to the table as a player, based on extensive research and film study.
Measurables/Athleticism
Fornadel is big and powerful but lacks length. He managed 27 bench press reps at his pro day.
His speed and explosiveness numbers at his pro day were poor, as he ran just 5.51 and had a broad jump of 96 inches and a vertical of 24 inches. His agility numbers were good for his size though.
Fornadel has displayed good versatility by playing all five positions over the course of his career. He started two games at right guard as a freshman, but was then at right tackle for the next three seasons and left tackle in his final year. Then, in the XFL/UFL he mostly played right guard with 11 snaps on the left and a few snaps as a jumbo tight end.
In preseason action with New England, he played all three interior positions, with 17 snaps at center representing his first experience there.
With Hartwig going down, it made sense that the Jets might be looking at Fornadel as a center option and that’s where he’s been working in practice and saw playing time in the first preseason game.
Pass Blocking
Fornadel had a good pass blocking record in college as he gave up a low pressure rate and only four sacks in his career. Three of those four sacks came in his final season, in which he was playing left tackle for the only time and rehabbing a surgically-repaired knee.
As noted earlier his grades for pass blocking at the UFL level have also been good, as he only gave up three sacks in three seasons. However, he can be beaten with quickness at times.
When bull rushed, he often initially gives ground before managing to re-anchor but this can lead to pockets collapsing.
Run Blocking
While he gets stood up at the line or falls off a block from time to time, most of Fornadel’s run blocking film is good and he flashes dominance at the point of attack at times.
In space, Fornadel takes good angles and is good at locating and locking onto a target, and then sustaining his block.
Fornadel can block on the move too and again is adept at finding and walling off his target when tasked with doing this.
Short Yardage
Fornadel’s teams seemed to have mixed success in short yardage but there were plenty of occasions where they ran behind him successfully and he often was tasked with making the key block.
Screen Blocking
Fornadel clearly has the athleticism to get out in front of a screen and his abilities in space serve him well here too.
Footwork/Technique
Fornadel’s footwork is pretty good, although there are times where he will lunge at the waist rather than getting his feet under him when he starts to lose leverage. Hand placement and timing is also a work in progress.
Fornadel’s on-field discipline has been pretty good. He only had four penalties in three seasons as a starter in the XFL/UFL and his last full season at JMU saw him have just five in 16 starts. In addition, four of those were in the first two games, so he only had one holding penalty in the last 14.
He didn’t have any penalties in preseason with the Patriots last year but his first game with the Jets saw him called for this hold to negate a long touchdown.
Special Teams
Fornadel has limited experience on special teams where he has only really played as a blocker on the placekicking unit. He had one penalty in that role with the Defenders. He did also make this great block on a fake punt once though.
Instincts/Intelligence
Fornadel seems to communicate really well with his linemates and has a good awareness of what’s going on around him. He looks comfortable dealing with stunts, games and blitzes.
His versatility also speaks to his football IQ, so it’s clear he is a smart player and the transition into also playing center seems to have been a smooth one.
Fornadel is a player with a strong work ethic and attitude, and brings good leadership traits and toughness. On the field, he’s a play-to-the-whistle type of guy, often bringing plenty of nastiness when given an excuse to.
As noted, the 2020 and 2021 seasons were disrupted for Fornadel due to the pandemic and a knee injury, for which he had to get surgery. He’s been healthy at the pro level, though.
Scheme Fit
Fornadel has the size and strength that the Jets seem to have been targeting with their recent depth additions. However, he should be mobile and versatile enough to handle a scheme which is expected to be multiple in nature.
He was a teammate of current Jets offensive lineman Chukwuma Okorafor while he with the Patriots.
Conclusions
The Jets are once again dipping into the UFL pool here and although Fornadel was mostly brought in to balance out the position groupings with someone who could snap the ball required to replace Hartwig, there could also be a chance he is a diamond in the rough.
He’s consistently been one of the best linemen at that level over the past three years and seems like a better prospect than Kohl Levao, whom the Jets brought in 12 months ago as a development prospect and has already moved up from the third team to the second unit.
Fornadel is a good bet to stick around and compete for a role next year in training camp. With the Jets likely to rest Joe Tippmann and Josh Myers for the rest of preseason, he could get plenty of playing time to showcase the potential he has.