Leonard Taylor III, Braiden McGregor and Eric Watts happy rookies who made Jets' roster cut
From let: Jets undrafted rookies Braiden McGregor, Leonard Taylor III and Eric Watts. Credit: Ed Murray; Noah K. Murray
FLORHAM PARK, NJ — Leonard Taylor III, Braiden McGregor and Eric Watts first met when they signed as undrafted rookies with the Jets in April. The three defensive linemen went through minicamps and OTAs together, through training camp and preseason games together, and now they were going through this together too.
Cutdown day.
They spent it on a text chain, just the three of them, talking about their journey and wondering what would happen next. Taylor, who’d made a mistake in a drill and got yelled at by the coaches just hours earlier, thought for sure he was a goner. Watts, who said his stomach was in knots, kept coming across rumors and speculation on social media but dismissed them as unfounded. McGregor reflected on what Aaron Whitecotton, the Jets’ defensive line coach, had told them all on draft night when their names weren’t called but they wound up signing here, that if they came in and worked and did everything they were taught they would make the team.
They were bracing for the word that one, two or all three of them might get cut, wondering how they would process the joy of making the team with the grief of saying goodbye to a fast friend, but also terrified they might be the one on the way out. The only thing worse than roster survivor’s guilt would be not surviving.
Then, as 4 p.m. came and went with the deadline for the Jets to submit their initial 53-man roster to the league and they hadn’t heard anything, it began to dawn on each of them that not only had they made the team as individuals, long shot propositions from where they each began, but that they’d done something even more improbable. They’d made it together.
“I came in with these guys and to be able to keep playing with them, watching all of us continue to develop, that’s had a real big impact on us,” Taylor said on Thursday, still beaming from the realization that he would be sticking around. “I’m just proud that we all made it. We all put in the work for it and we all got what we deserved.”
“We’ve grown together,” Watts added, sitting at the locker next to Taylor’s. “Looking back at rookie minicamp, we were just talking about this [Wednesday], the steps we’ve taken to get to this point, it’s been a night-and-day difference how we improved. Us being able to do that as a group and still kind of stick together makes it a little more special.”
In meetings on Thursday, Whitecotton told them they were the first trio of undrafted rookies at the same position ever to make the same team out of training camp. That may or may not be true, but it is undeniable that they accomplished something rare if not unique.
“I mean, I’ve never been around a situation where three undrafted free agent d-linemen made it,” Jets general manager Joe Douglas said.
He can’t say that anymore.
Their Tuesday experience was comparable to the draft, sitting idly while your future is decided by others. Taylor and McGregor both said the draft was a more straining endeavor.
“That still gets in my head,” McGregor said. “It’s good because it put a chip on my shoulder not hearing my name called.”
Said Taylor: “Preparing for something your whole life and when you get to that moment and you don’t get that call, it takes a toll on you.” He said he will “100%” carry that pain and memory throughout his career.
Watts, though, said Tuesday was more difficult because at that point he’d gotten a taste of the NFL.
“This is like you are here, you are interacting with the guys, interacting with the coaches, and you are starting to get into a flow and feel for things with where you are at,” he said. “You are putting in work for this organization to stay here. That part in the back of your mind that there is a chance you could be cut and not be here, that was definitely tougher.”
Coach Robert Saleh said what he likes about the three is that they all bring something different to the team. “The way they try to win is very different for each of them but all very, very productive,” he said. “And now the key for them is to eliminate the ‘I got it’ attitude and find a way to stick.”
They know that, too.
“Obviously we still have a lot of work to do, this is just the first step,” McGregor said, “but it is exciting.”
“The feeling is unreal,” Watts said. “The amount of work it takes to get to this point and actually finally making it? But then in the back of your mind you have to know this is just the beginning. OK, you made it, now what are you going to do to stay here? That’s your next challenge.”
Watts said they also understand what is at stake now, not just for them but the entire team they are part of.
“(The veterans) know the potential we have and they are going to push us to the standards that we have here,” he said. “Those standards are the Super Bowl.”
The three of them have already managed to come this far and stick together. What’s another five months?
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
