Jets DC Jeff Ulbrich on Marcus Maye’s injury: ‘It’s going to hurt missing him’

10/01/2021

jeff ulbrich marcus maye jets — Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports

Jets safety Marcus Maye recently suffered an ankle injury and could miss each of the team’s next three games.

The Jets can’t afford many negative occurrences following an 0-3 start, but that’s exactly what they received earlier this week.

Starting safety Marcus Maye is dealing with an ankle injury and will be out 3-4 weeks. With the team’s bye coming in Week 6, this means the fifth-year player could miss each of the next three games.

It’s a tough blow to a defense that’s been relatively strong in comparison to the rest of the team’s units. And despite the Jets employing reinforcements on the roster, defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich certainly understands the loss of Maye will make a difference.

“We got a group of guys that got to step up. It’s frustrating, obviously, when guys get hurt. You never want it to happen and the thing about Marcus was, I think he was finally starting to really grasp what we were doing. I thought he was getting better every single week. So, it’s going to hurt missing him,” Ulbrich told the media Thursday. “Fortunately, we do have good safety depth getting [Sharrod] Neasman back and getting Ashtyn [Davis] back this week is going to be a huge part of that. By Sunday, we’ll figure out who’s the best, if not maybe by committee, to replace him.”

What’s interesting is that this could lead to the conclusion of Maye’s tenure in Florham Park. The Jets franchise tagged him in the offseason and failed to reach a long-term deal by the July 15 deadline.

The health issues could provide general manager Joe Douglas a reason to part ways with Maye at the end of the year and not reward him with the long-term contract he might still desire at that point.

There’s also the possibility the Jets trade him, which Maye’s agent appeared to bring up in a cryptic tweet from earlier this week.