Roster News: Jets sign two, release KR Ballentine

The Jets need to make five cuts tomorrow to get their roster down to 80 players, but they've also made a few moves today.

Lawson going on injured reserve was inevitable because he's obviously out for the season, but cutting Ballentine two days after he ripped off a long return against the Packers is perhaps a bit of a surprise. Then again, he had no other real role apart from returning kicks, which is a dying art anyway. Ace Carter had been the number two kick returner, with Josh Malone - another roster long-shot - also in the mix.

As for the two guys they brought in, these probably fall more into the category of warm bodies to take up some reps in the last preseason game after Conor McDermott and Ronald Blair were hurt against the Packers. The Jets were so short-handed at tackle that George Fant basically played the entire game.

Williams is a 28-year old journeyman who spent time with the 49ers last year so the staff knows him and he'll know the system. The Jets will be his 11th pro team and he's been active a few times but has never actually seen action in an NFL game. In preseason action, he's mostly played guard but he did play at right tackle in 2016.

Adeoye, who was a basketball player until his final year of college, had an interesting route to the NFL having gone undrafted in 2016 and played indoor football and in the AAF before earning a contract with the Ravens in 2019. He's only played in one regular season game, though.

There have been rumors that the Jets might trade for defensive end depth following the injury to Lawson, especially with Blair joining Vinny Curry and Kyle Phillips on the injured list. That may be more of a low level rotational guy than a splashy high-cost move though.