Take flight with the Jets
Text with Brian Costello all season as he brings Sports+ subscribers the latest Jets intel from on the field and off.
tRY IT NOWIn the wake of Braelon Allen’s knee injury, the Jets are adding to their running backs room, and perhaps solving their kickoff return issues as well.
Gang Green announced Thursday they had signed former Bears running back Khalil Herbert and placed Allen on injured reserve. Allen will miss at least the next four games due to an MCL sprain. Coach Aaron Glenn has called it a “pretty serious knee injury.”
The 27-year-old Herbert was released by the Colts in early September and signed to the Seahawks practice squad.
The Jets have signed former Bears running back Khalil Herbert. Getty ImagesHis best season came with the Bears in 2022, when he ran for 731 yards and four touchdowns. As a rookie, he returned 27 kickoffs for an average of 24.1 yards.
He played for the Bears and Bengals last season.
Allen, a fourth-round pick a year ago out of Wisconsin, injured his knee during a kickoff in Monday’s loss to the Dolphins.
The Jets also placed Braelon Allen (0) on injured reserve after he was injured on Monday. Charles Wenzelberg/New York PostThe Jets were hoping he could form a potent 1-2 punch in the backfield with Breece Hall.
Herbert will likely slot in No. 3 on the depth chart for the Jets behind Hall and Isaiah Davis.
“Losing a guy like Braelon, that’s tough because you can watch it, and he was starting to — you feel like he’s hitting his stride, he’s making some good reads, he’s running hard, he’s running physical, and then he goes down,” offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. “So, that is a shot. That hurts a bit, but that’s why we’ve got a guy like Isaiah to bump up into the two and we’ll just go from there.”
Khalil Herbert runs the ball for the Colts during a preseason game. Getty ImagesSpecial teams coordinator Chris Banjo was noncommittal on the status of kick and punt returner Isaiah Williams after he fumbled a kickoff return and called for a fair catch on a punt at his own 2-yard line.
Banjo said the Jets are going through their evaluation process.
It appears edge Jermaine Johnson will remain out with an ankle injury. He has yet to practice this week.
This would be the third straight game the starting defensive lineman has missed.
Running back/kick returner Kene Nwangwu (hamstring) and cornerback Michael Carter II (concussion) also didn’t practice.
