Jets' Morgan Moses participates in team drills as projected starting offensive line practices together for first time
Jets offensive lineman Morgan Moses speaks with the media after practice during training camp at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J. on Friday. Credit: James Escher
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Morgan Moses made his debut in training camp team drills on Friday, then thanked a Jets teammate for urging him to wait as long as he did.
“The first day I was in here I was complaining, and Aaron [Rodgers] was like, ‘Hey, man, we don’t need you right now,’ ” the offensive tackle recalled after practice. “I was like, ‘Oh, yeah, right, Aaron said that. OK. All right. Let me take my time.’
“You need that reminder, especially as a veteran, because all you know is work, work, work. You need that reminder sometimes to just stay out of the way from yourself.”
As Rodgers suggested, the idea is to keep his line intact deep into autumn and beyond, not one week into camp.
So it makes sense to take it slow with Moses, who is 33, is in his 11th NFL season and is coming off surgery last winter to repair a torn pectoral muscle.
But it also makes sense to get the full projected starting five of Tyron Smith, John Simpson, Joe Tippmann, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Moses as much work together as possible.
Previously, Moses participated in individual drills, then watched the more interesting parts of practice from the sideline. Friday was the first time he was in a real huddle with Rodgers.
“Being able to just go out there today and run around with the guys and feel like you’re 10 years old again playing football, man, it’s fantastic,” Moses said.
Moses played for Washington from 2014-20, then with the Jets in 2021 and the Ravens in 2022 and ’23 before returning in a March trade with Baltimore.
“It’s been a long road for him trying to get back from that pec,” coach Robert Saleh said. “But excited to get him back.”
Bookending Moses with Smith, a longtime Cowboys standout, gives the Jets a pair of 33-year-old tackles, which provides experience but risks injury.
Saleh said getting players other than Moses — notably first-round draft pick Olu Fashanu — work early in camp has been a bonus. That will continue, because Moses is on a snaps count for now.
“The league is chaotic, so the odds of running the same five [starters] are slim to none,” Saleh said. “So it’s good for them to work with one another in different combinations.”
Moses and Smith know each other well. Both have played in the NFC East for years and both have been coached by veteran line coach Bill Callahan.
Saleh praised Moses’ character and leadership on and off the field.
“He’s an elite human,” the coach said.
It was a long, steamy morning on the practice field, but no one was happier to be on it than Moses.
“The movement out there with the guys, the atmosphere,” he said, “to be out there in practice, it was amazing to be back . . . I got a little dancing going out there in practice, got the vibes going. It just felt good.”
Notes & quotes: CB Sauce Gardner was excused from practice for personal reasons . . . Saleh said he would leave it to returner Tarik Cohen to explain his abrupt retirement on Thursday. The coach called Cohen a “tremendous person” and said he had been having a “great” camp.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
More Jets
