S Jaylen Key (6-0, 208)
Key, the last pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, totaled 11 tackles in 132 snaps in three preseason games. He spent five seasons at Alabama-Birmingham before transferring to Alabama for the 2023 season. He started all 12 games for the Crimson Tide and recorded 60 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 2 passes defensed.
TE Zack Kuntz (6-8, 251)
Kuntz was selected in the seventh round (220th overall) by the Jets in the 2023 draft out of Penn State and Old Dominion. In his first pro preseason, he caught a touchdown pass from Tim Boyle at Carolina. He spent the first 15 weeks of last season on the Jets’ practice squad, did not play in Game 16, and made his pro debut in Game 17 at New England, playing 2 offensive snaps and 4 more on special teams. He recorded one catch for 9 yards on 87 offensive plays and added 34 ST snaps in the three preseason games in August before being released. He helps refill the Jets’ TE room after they only have Tyler Conklin and Jeremy Ruckert on the active roster following Tuesday’s cuts.
OL Kohl Levao (6-5, 324)
Levao signed with the Jets in June and played 168 snaps this preseason, the most of any offensive player on the team. Before the Jets, he last played for the USFL’s San Antonio Brahmas at both guard positions. For the University of Hawaii, he played center and guard. Levao, who allowed one sack in 2021 and earned honorable mention All-Mountain West, posted a 97% pass protection success rate. Levao was born in American Samoa and has experience as a LG, C, RG and RT.
QB Adrian Martinez (6-2, 220)
Martinez signed with the team in July and threw for 270 yards, 0 touchdowns and 1 interception this preseason while completing 53.2% of his passes. He played with the Birmingham Stallons of the United Football League (UFL) before joining the Jets, where he was voted MVP while throwing for 1,749 yards and 15 TDs and leading the league with 528 rushing yards. The Nebraska/Kansas State product, who went undrafted in 2023, initially signed a free-agent contract with the Detroit Lions and spent last preseason with them. Martinez (6-2, 220) appeared in 49 college games from 2018-2022, completing 63.6% of his passes for 9,752 yards with 51 TDs and 31 TDs.
Linebacker Marcelino McCrary-Ball (6-0, 214)
McCrary-Ball joins the Jets’ practice squad after spending most of the 2023 season with the Green and White. The former Indiana Hoosier signed with the Jets’ practice squad last August before being promoted to the active roster in January. He appeared in two games for the Green and White and 19 special teams appearances. McCrary-Ball began his career with the 49ers, signing as an undrafted free agent out of Indiana in 2022. He completed two training camps with San Francisco before joining the Jets midway through the 2023 season.
WR Lance McCutcheon (6-3, 203)
McCutcheon, an undrafted free agent signed by the Rams in 2022, spent last season on the Jets’ practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract in January and now returns to the Green & White. He was released by the Rams in 2023 as part of final roster cuts and signed with the Texans’ P-squad before being released in October. McCutcheon, who went to Montana State, played in all three preseason games for the Jets this summer and recorded 2 receptions for 25 yards. He has played in 10 games (1 start) but has yet to record a reception.
S Jarius Monroe (6-2, 205)
Signed by the Jets as an undrafted free agent out of Nicholls and Tulane, Monroe represented the Green Wave in this year’s East-West Shrine Bowl and was named Defensive MVP. After the 2024 draft, Monroe moved from CB to S with the Jets and played in his new position in the final two preseason games. In total, he recorded 123 defensive snaps in the three games and finished the summer with 16 tackles, tying him with LB Zaire Barnes for second on the Green & White and trailing only LB Chazz Surratt with 18 tackles.
Center back Kendall Sheffield (5-10, 212)
Sheffield, a fourth-round pick of the Falcons in 2019, appeared in 38 games (20 starts) for the Falcons from 2019-21, recording 101 tackles, 6 PDs and 2 FFs. He was briefly on the 49ers and Titans practice squads last season. The former Ohio State Buckeye will continue to play for defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich, who served as a defensive assistant and coordinator with the Falcons during Sheffield’s first two professional seasons.
WR Brandon Smith (6-2, 215)
Smith signed with the Green & White on August 2 and led the team with 120 receiving yards on 5 catches. Before the Jets, he played in the UFL for the DC Defenders, where he had 18 catches, 208 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Iowa product went undrafted in 2020 and was on both the Cowboys and Cardinals rosters, but did not play in a regular season game. Smith totaled 91 receptions, 1,046 yards and 9 touchdowns in 39 games for the Hawkeyes.
Center back Tre Swilling (6-0, 196)
Swilling, the son of Pat Swilling, a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and a Saints/Lions/Raiders Pro Bowl selection, was signed as an undrafted free agent by Tennessee after the 1922 draft. He was on the rosters of the Titans, Saints, 49ers – for whom he played his only two professional games last season – and the Ravens. Baltimore released him on July 22, and less than two weeks later he signed with the Jets and played in all three preseason games, totaling 73 defensive snaps and 30 ST snaps, recording two tackles and one pass defense, and forcing a Giants fumble on the opening kickoff of the teams’ final preseason game that the Jets recovered and converted into an opening field goal.
Running back Xazavian Valladay (6-0, 200)
Valladay was an undrafted free agent out of Arizona State after the 2023 draft, spending the summer with Houston and Pittsburgh before joining the Jets’ practice squad after being cut last August. He spent most of the season on the practice squad before making his debut with the Jets and in the NFL with 12 ST games in the snowy season finale against the Patriots. In this year’s preseason, Valladay played 71 offensive snaps and 30 more on special teams, and in his 40 OPs against the Giants, he finished with 14 carries for 28 yards and six receptions – the most by any Jets receiver in a 2024 preseason game – for 62 yards.
