Jets bye week review: Examining CB Darryl Roberts' season so far

Corner needs to step up following New York's bye

9/28/2019, 2:00 PM
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Bent, theJetsBlog.com Follow on Twitter

With the Jets on their bye week, we've been reviewing some of the Jets players, looking in detail at their season so far and what to expect from them coming out of the bye week. We're looking at a mixture of players who've exceeded expectations and some who have been disappointing so far. We continue today with a look at cornerback Darryl Roberts.

 

Expectations prior to the season

The Jets showed faith in Roberts over the offseason as they signed him to a three-year, $18 million contract extension back in March.

However, although the 28-year old started a career-high 10 games last season, there was still an expectation that he was being re-signed as a stop-gap and that the Jets might look to find a longer-term upgrade. However, no such addition was forthcoming, as the Jets instead just opted to do little more than bolstering their bench depth. The only draft pick used on a defensive back was on Blessuan Austin in the sixth round and he was coming off an injury, so was never considered likely to be able to contribute this year.

As a result, Roberts entered training camp as the starter as the anticipated challenge from 2017 draft pick Derrick Jones never materialized.  

In preseason, Roberts solidified his place by not giving up a single reception in his three appearances. However, there was a major caveat to that, as his man wasn't thrown to in any of those three games.

Stats over the first three weeks

  • Three games played (three starts)
  • 21 tackles
  • One interception
  • One pass defensed
  • One tackle for loss

Analysis

Roberts' season didn't get off to a great start, as he was flagged for three penalties got beaten for the winning touchdown in the opening day loss to the Bills:

Prior to that play, he hadn't been exploited too badly, as he'd only given up 39 yards on six targets. However, that included four first downs.

In week two, Roberts bounced back to an extent as he only gave up one first down and also came up with this fourth quarter interception:

However, he wasn't flawless as he also gave up a 13-yard pass on 2nd-and-20 and missed a couple of tackles.

In the New England game, QB Tom Brady went after Roberts relentlessly, throwing to his man 14 times, almost one-third of his throws. Roberts got beaten for a touchdown and four other first downs and was called for a 28-yard pass interference penalty on third down. One of the first downs came on a 3rd-and-22 downfield throw to WR Josh Gordon to set up New England's only touchdown of the second half.

While Roberts contributed some positive plays in that game, including on two tackles in the backfield, he hasn't done enough to offset the number of plays he has given up in coverage. The damage in the New England could have been even worse if not for two drops by players that got open with Roberts covering them, too.

Expectations after the bye

With Trumaine Johnson having been benched for Nate Hairston, this effectively means that Roberts is the number one cornerback, but he seems to be out of his depth in that role so far. Roberts has been targeted 28 times, as opposed to just 19 for Johnson and Hairston combined. If teams continue to go after Roberts as the season progresses, will the Jets consider replacing him and perhaps re-inserting Johnson into the line-up?

On some level, Johnson's benching has done Roberts a favor because it's drawn attention away from the fact that Roberts has also been struggling. However, the fanbase has been extremely critical of the pass coverage generally, especially in light of the fact a large contingent were very vocal all offseason in calling for reinforcements.

The Jets were admonished during the offseason, both before and after former GM Mike Maccagnan's departure, for not having a contingency plan to protect them against Roberts floundering in a starter role. Last season, Roberts played reasonably well at times as the number two, but then ended up being moved to safety towards the end of the season, where he struggled. He then ended up getting benched along with Johnson for the final game of the season after having turned up late to a meeting.

Although Roberts received a three-year deal, it was structured in such a way as the Jets can let him go at the end of the first year if they decide not to persevere with him as a starter. Roberts will need to perform better over the remainder of the season if he's going to remain in the team's plans.

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