Even when the outlook remained bleak, there were still times when CJ Mosley seemed to finally have an outside chance of returning this season.
Some light tackling drills after the Jets bye week in late November.
An update “progressing in the right direction” at the same time.
A full workout to start this week, in the days leading up to their Week 14 game against the Dolphins.
But all those hints of progress were erased Friday, when Jets interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich said they planned to bench Mosley — who hasn’t played since Oct. 20 due to a herniated disc in his neck – on injured reserve, except to finish. his season.
He would be eligible to return for their Week 18 finale against the Dolphins after missing the additional four games required for a stint on IR, but that seems unlikely.
And with a cap hit of $12.784 million next season, the final year of a five-year contract he signed in 2019, Mosley could have played his last game in a Jets uniform.
“A tough decision from a very proud and incredible player and leader, all those things for us,” Ulbrich said Friday. “It wasn’t an easy decision for him, but it’s the best decision for him and for our organization.”
Mosley had already missed three games earlier this season with a toe injury, but the 32-year-old’s campaign took a scary turn before the Jets’ game against the Patriots on October 27 – just his second after started to re-enter the lineup. with a limited role.
He gave a pre-match speech on the field. He started moving towards the other linebackers for warm-ups. It was no different from any other week.
He had done this pre-match routine countless times before. With the Jets. With the Ravens, who drafted him in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft.
With Alabama, his college team, before that.
But his neck “just locked up,” Mosley said last month, according to the Post’s Brian Costello.
He felt a “burning” sensation. And that has led to a lot of unknowns about what the rest of his season — as well as the rest of his Jets and NFL careers — might look like.
After the injury, doctors told Mosley he would not need surgery, but despite limited or full practice all three days last week and a full session Wednesday, Mosley has not been in able to heal sufficiently for a return.
His 2024 record will therefore end like this: 17 total tackles, his fewest number in a season since 2019, when he injured his groin just two games into his career with the Jets and did not return for the rest of the season.
But when Mosley returned to his linebacker spot in 2021 — he opted out of the 2020 season, which occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic — and remained in the lineup, he became the heart of the Jets defense.
That’s why they initially signed him in 2019, when Mosley signed a five-year, $85 million contract after the Ravens let him enter free agency.
He took a pay cut this offseason when he agreed to a revised two-year contract, but his role remained unchanged.
Mosley has 152 tackles in each of the past three seasons through 2024 and has been one of the veteran voices in the locker room, helping stabilize the Jets through their recent stretches of losing and dysfunction.
“I might have nightmares here and there, but I’ll be able to go to sleep peacefully knowing that I gave everything to this team and to my teammates,” Mosley told The Post’s Mark Cannizzaro last week. “At the end of the day, if you want to be on the highest pedestal, you will be judged by wins, losses and championships. That’s why I came here. That’s why I’m still here. And as long as I continue to be here, that will be my goal and my motivation.
The Jets already have a logical successor to replace Mosley in the short and long term.
Jamien Sherwood, in his fourth season, reportedly needs a new contract this offseason, but he has started 11 games in place of Mosley this year and leads the Jets with 107 tackles.
He also took over the green dot for communication.
But now the Jets will be without the quarterback of their defense on Sunday, for the rest of the season and perhaps into the future.
As they enter a period filled with unknowns – about Aaron Rodgers’ prospects, about their new head coach, about their new general manager, all of it – and uncertainty, Mosley’s future becomes the latest wrinkled.
