Who is the Jets' #4 wide receiver?

One unanswered question which might potential morph into an interesting camp battle (if there's a camp) is who the Jets' fourth wide receiver might be in 2020.

With Quincy Enunwa confirmed as out for the year and Demaryius Thomas not re-signed, the Jets may need someone to step up in 2020. Alternatively, should they start shopping now for a veteran stop-gap?

When Robby Anderson left during the offseason, the Jets moved quickly to replace him with Breshad Perriman. Whether Perriman can replicate his impressive finish to last season over a longer period of time remains to be seen, but he seems to be a direct replacement there.

Jamison Crowder's role probably isn't going to change. He'll be the primary slot receiver, although he can play outside at times, too.

The other presumptive starter is rookie Denzel Mims. While Mims might have a limited role at first, he does certain things well so the Jets can employ him situationally while he works at expanding his repertoire. Mims is a decent blocker which should get him on the field for some opportunities to produce.

Who's going to step in and be the next man up, though? If there's an injury or Mims falters early on, someone is going to essentially have to step into a full-time role, unless the Jets opt to go for a committee approach.

While they could consider using the tight ends more often, they ideally need someone who can play outside because moving Crowder to the boundary just takes away from an area of strength.

Let's consider the possibilities:

The Main Candidates

Two players found themselves elevated to that temporary fill-in role last season: Vyncint Smith and Braxton Berrios.

Smith ended up with four starts and made 17 catches for 225 yards, while also rushing for 52 yards and a touchdown. He didn't play more than 25 snaps in any of the first 12 games but averaged over 40 snaps per game in the final four and provided modest production with 10 catches for 145 yards plus a 20-yard carry.

Berrios has a good shot to be back on the roster as the punt returner, but didn't contribute much on offense last year. Nevertheless, the Jets opted to use him as the primary slot receiver and put Crowder on the outside in the first New England game. Berrios caught two passes in 30 snaps. He ended the season with six catches for 115 yards but didn't play more than 10 snaps again.

The other main candidate and perhaps the favorite to win this fourth spot right now is Josh Doctson. The former first-rounder had some injury and attitude issues in Washington and missed virtually the entire 2019 season. However, he caught 79 passes across the two previous seasons. The Jets will hope he can rejuvenate his career with them but his spot is far from guaranteed.

The Outside Bets

Jehu Chesson, Josh Malone and Jeff Smith will also get a chance to compete in camp.

Chesson and Malone are a pair of fourth round picks who've seen action briefly at the NFL level but combined for just 10 catches. Malone may have an edge because he's been in the Jets organization since last September; mostly on the practice squad.

Smith was an undrafted rookie last season but he missed all of camp and virtually the whole regular season due to injury. He got a chance to make a cameo in week 15 and made one nice catch before getting hurt again. He could have made a name for himself after getting open deep in that game only to slow up on his route so he was unable to catch up to Sam Darnold's long bomb.

The Rookies

Other than Mims, the Jets opted not to select another receiver in the draft. However, perhaps one of their undrafted rookies will demonstrate some potential.

Lawrence Cager brings good height at 6'5" and has an ability to make plays down the field. He was starting to establish himself as a productive receiver before getting hurt in his final season.

George Campbell wasn't very productive in college but does bring good special teams abilities. Although he only had 19 catches in his best season, he did prove to be a big play threat.

Clearly both players are long-shots to even make the roster but there will be spots available if one of them can turn heads in preseason.

Conclusions

There are a few candidates to take this role. Players like Doctson and Vyncint Smith look potentially capable of racking up 30-40 catches as a third or fourth option if called upon, but the Jets might see more potential in one of the other players.

All of these options are pretty unproven though, which is especially worrying given how Perriman and Mims are not exactly proven commodities either.

If the Jets can sign Thomas or another veteran receiver with experience, but without having to guarantee them a spot, then they should aim to do this. If it's someone who can mentor the likes of Mims, then this could add extra value.