The long NFL offseason ends for the New York Jets tonight at 7:00 pm EDT. The Jets are at home in East Rutherford, New Jersey to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in both teams’ 2026 preseason opener.
NFL teams in recent years have increasingly held their starters out of preseason games in a bid to avoid injuries prior to the regular season. Jets head coach Aaron Glenn has decided to go the opposite route this year, with the starters slated for about one half worth of snaps spread across the three preseason games. That means the starters will likely see just one or two drives per game before the backups start to fill in. Once the starters exit the game we get to watch a bunch of back of the roster type players play marginal NFL football while fighting for the final open roster spots. Tonight is a big night for the so-called bubble players.
The biggest thing for the two teams will be coming out of this game without any serious injuries, if fortune allows. For the bubble players, it’s an audition, not just for their respective teams, but for every team in the NFL. With the shortened preseason schedule there are few opportunities to put good things on tape for the rest of the league to see. Tonight is one of those opportunities. Players who don’t end up making it through final cuts have a chance here to showcase their skills for the entire league, which might earn them a shot with a different franchise down the road.
One thing to keep an eye on is the order of when players enter the game. This tends to correspond pretty closely to the team’s depth chart, so we get an early glimpse at who might be leading their positions in the battles for roster spots.
It’s the Jets and the Buccaneers in the first of three preseason games for both teams. Jets football is back!
Enjoy the game everybody.