The Jets have added a new linebacker following Avery Williamson's season-ending torn ACL.

The team announced on Saturday afternoon that they have signed veteran Albert McClellan and placed Williamson on Injured Reserve.

A 33-year-old out of Marshall, McClellan played his first six seasons with the Baltimore Ravens, before splitting time last season with the Ravens and Patriots. 

Which three current Jets would you invite to dinner?

That was the question asked to head coach Adam Gase and general manager Joe Douglas, as they walked the Jets' practice field.

Jamal Adams seems like an obvious answer, but some of Gase's choices may be a bit of a surprise. 

Former Jets quarterback Josh McCown, who retired in June after spending the last two of his 16 professional seasons with the team, has now decided to un-retire according to ESPN's Adam Schefter. McCown will sign a one year deal with the Philadelphia Eagles, making them his eleventh NFL team. The contract includes $2 million fully guaranteed and could be worth up to $5.4 million, per source.

Last season with the Jets, he appeared in four games after starter Sam Darnold was out with a foot injury. McCown had been a strong mentor for the No. 3 pick in the 2018 Draft, and had spoken very highly of him.

"I root for those guys, and I want to see Sam have a lot of success. Now he has to make it happen. If he needs me, I'm only a phone call away," McCown said.

Jamal Adams has already proven himself to be a leader on the back end of the Jets' defense.

This past offseason, the team went out and added CJ Mosley in free agency, adding another playmaker, and giving Adams another leader he can rely on in the Jets' front seven.

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The most important thing for every NFL team in every preseason game is to simply come out of it with their starting lineup intact. Whatever the starters get out of a few meaningless snaps is rarely worth the risk of a devastating injury.

The Jets and linebacker Avery Williamson were just reminded of that in the worst way possible, thanks to the worst decision of Adam Gase's short Jets career.

The Jets suffered a huge blow on Friday when their worst fears were confirmed - that Williamson suffered a torn ACL in the Jets' 22-10 win in Atlanta on Thursday night. And the insult to the injury is that it was truly meaningless and could have - should have - been avoided. The 27-year-old was injured with 3:52 left in the first half, long after all the other Jets defensive starters had departed.

The Jets received a big blow to their defense on Friday as linebacker Avery Williamson has suffered a torn ACL. SNY's Ralph Vacchiano confirmed NFL Network's Ian Rapoport's first report on the injury. Williamson will miss the entire 2019 season. 

Williamson was curiously left in Thursday's preseason contest against the Falcons for an extended amount of time when he sustained the injury. 

Williamson went down on the field with approximately four minutes left in the first half while in coverage on a passing play. The Jets brought in a new defensive coordinator this offseason in Gregg Williams and Williamson was tabbed as the defensive play-caller on the field. 

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New Jets defensive coordinator Gregg Williams said this week that he hasn't really started bringing the pressure with his play-calls yet.

All that changed on Thursday night.

Actually, it didn't matter because he was getting plenty of pressure from his defensive line, but Williams turned up the heat in the second game of the preseason. The Jets were all over Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan in a 22-10 win in Atlanta. They sacked him three times on the 17 times he dropped back to pass, and pressured him on almost every other pass. He was still 10 of 14 for 118 yards thanks to his talent and a porous Jets secondary. But by the time he left, one thing was clear:

Through two preseason games, the Jets have looked strong on both sides of the ball.

Sam Darnold and the first-team offense have shown efficiency moving the ball down the field, and Gregg Williams' defense proved on Thursday that they can bring the heat on opposing quarterbacks.

One glaring issue for the Jets through these two games, though, has been their kicking game.

The Jets wide receiver room doesn't exactly scare anyone from top-to-bottom, but there's talent. 

The top-three targets for quarterback Sam Darnold on the outside are Robby Anderson, Jamison Crowder and Quincy Enunwa. In that group, New York head coach Adam Gase doesn't want or see football players.

Instead, Gase wants basketball players, and he thinks he's got them. 

The Jets continue their preseason schedule on Thursday night on the road against the Falcons in Atlanta. Their first game was a loss in the "Snoopy Bowl" to the Giants, something they're looking to bounce back from tonight. 

It will definitely be a tough task to do so, especially when you consider one big strength and one big weakness for the Falcons and Jets respectively. 

Last season, the Falcons -- led by Matt Ryan on the offensive side of the ball -- were a pass-heavy team. That's not to say the rest of the NFL hasn't turned into that, but the Falcons did better than most teams. They finished fourth in passing offense for the regular season with 209.8 yards per game. 

The Jets' hottest new commodity in Le'Veon Bell is still getting acclimated to his new team. He was absent from most of the team's offseason voluntary workouts as he continued his routine of working out in Miami to prepare for the new season. 

But, since Bell has been at training camp for the past few weeks, his new Jets teammates are learning what the dynamic running back is like on and off the field. 

In between the hashes, Bell is the exact same player that he was when we last saw him: a patient yet explosive back that knows how to read defenses and make his opponents miss. He didn't show that against the Giants in preseason Week 1 as he sat out, but there have been spurts at practice where he's shown his mastery with the ball in his hands. 

As Quinnen Williams gets acclimated to his new team, the Jets first-rounder is also getting used to his new surroundings. 

Sitting down alongside his D-linemate Leonard Williams and SNY's Jeane Coakley, Quinnen Williams admitted that he has never been this far north. He has been in Alabama his entire life, growing up in Birmingham and playing in Tuscaloosa. 

But Quinnen Williams is slowly learning how cool New York City and New Jersey can be. And maybe one day soon Leonard Williams will take him out on the town...

Sam Darnold had an impressive preseason debut last Thursday, and that may have a lot to do with his relationship with head coach Adam Gase.

The second-year quarterback was recently asked to describe what he enjoys the most about getting to know his new head coach, and Darnold explained that Gase has offered him advice pertaining to both on the field and off of it. 

"He's crazy in the best way. I think we all are," Darnold said about his head coach. "You've got to be a little crazy in this profession, and it's fun to be able to gameplan with him, talk about football, but the coolest thing is being able to talk to him about things outside football - family life, friends and family, all of that kind of stuff."  

After the Jets lost their top cornerback in Trumaine Johnson following Sunday's practice, GM Joe Douglas moved swiftly to help fill the void.

The Jets signed seventh-year veteran Marcus Cooper, the team announced on Tuesday, waiving tight end Nick Truesdell to create room.

The Detroit Lions cut Cooper on Monday.

Ralph Vacchiano | Facebook | Twitter | Archive

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- The Jets knew the cornerback position was their biggest flaw, even before Trumaine Johnson injured his hamstring at practice on Sunday. They were shorthanded from the start at one of the most important positions in football.

Now, with Johnson out for the foreseeable future -- "I don't think it's going to be months," Adam Gase said, "but I mean, we'll see." -- the situation is dire.

The Jets' intensity level at training camp thus far has been through the roof, and that's always a good sight when there is so much change going on with a franchise. Head coach Adam Gase is setting the tone early on with his offensive group, and defensive coordinator Gregg Williams is doing the same with his unit. 

When those competitive juices do get flowing at practice, the Jets have seen a scuffle or two occur on the gridiron. 

And that's perfectly fine for Williams in particular. Speaking after practice on Tuesday, Williams explained to the media that he loves his highly-competitive group, and the fights and arguments at practice will happen when everyone is competing for a job on the 53-man roster. 

If there's anyone who knows what it takes to play quarterback for the Jets, it's probably the man who was under center for the team's lone Super Bowl appearance and victory. 

And Joe Namath continues to be impressed by the player who is now taking snaps for Gang Green some 50 years later, Sam Darnold.

"I liked what I saw of him physically when he was at Southern Cal before he got here," Namath said. "When he got here, I liked what the coaches and players had to say about him.

Following the first week of the exhibition season in the NFL, the optimism surrounding both of New York's football teams is through the roof. 

The Jets' Sam Darnold led a single drive that was near perfect, as the second-year pro was 4-for-5 passing with a touchdown. The Giants' once looked down upon rookie QB in Daniel Jones was one pass better, as he was 5-for-5 passing with a touchdown.

So... Jets vs. Giants Super Bowl?

For players, coaches and general managers alike, training camp is a grind. Between meetings, workouts and practices, it can sometimes seem the work never stops. So, every now and then, who doesn't need to blow off some steam and belt it out at karaoke night?

Well, Adam Gase, for one. The Jets head coach told SNY's Jeane Coakley that he'd "never be asked to do karaoke and would decline if he was." But general manager Joe Douglas takes Gase for a grunge guy, saying he could "crush" Pearl Jam, given the opportunity. 

Douglas is more of a low-key, country-western guy himself, tapping Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler" and John Denver's "Take Me Home, Country Roads" as his specialties when he gets the mic. 

Jets quarterback Sam Darnold said following his team's preseason opener against the Giants last week that he's hoping the first-team offense gave fans a "taste" of what's to come in 2019.

The second-year QB was 4-for-5 passing in the game with a touchdown pass. Running back Le'Veon Bell didn't play in the game and the starters only played one series. Regardless, the group left a good impression.

The Jets will continue their exhibition season on Thursday against the Falcons and head coach Adam Gase revealed that the team will probably give fans a bigger taste than it did in Week 1. 

The Jets have a favorite for the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year Award in running back Le'Veon Bell. 

BetOnline recently released odds for the honor, and Bell is tied with 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo as the favorite to win the award at 4/1 odds.

Bell, 27, would be a true comeback, as he signed a four-year deal worth $52.5 million and $35 million guaranteed this offseason after sitting out the entire 2018 season while looking for a new contract from the Steelers. 

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Entering training camp, cornerback was viewed as one of the weakest positions on the Jets' roster. Many view Darryl Roberts, who started five games at cornerback last year and another five at free safety, as an inadequate option to start across from Trumaine Johnson. Johnson, of course, had his own issues with injuries and insubordination last year, too.

In the first preseason game, Roberts and Johnson weren't tested in their brief appearance. However, concern intensified about the depth on the roster, as the second unit struggled badly. Derrick Jones, who was released the next day, was burned for a long catch and Parry Nickerson gave up a number of catches, including one that went for a 51-yard touchdown. Rookie Kyron Brown also had a bad mistake that led to a 22-yard gain as he sought to jump the route on a pass to the slot receiver, leaving his man open on the outside.

When the Jets took the practice field on Monday, there was a bit of a change at cornerback. 

While Darryl Roberts have been the starting corner on the right side with the first-teamers thus far, undrafted rookie Kyron Brown out of Akron was opposite him. And Brown was exposed early on during team drills, as Robby Anderson flat out beat him on a crossing route for a 40-yard gain. 

The reason Brown was in with the first team to begin with was due to Trumaine Johnson's hamstring injury that now has him out indefinitely. The Jets were already short when it comes to cornerback depth. 

Already thin at cornerback, the Jets suffered another blow within the position group Sunday.

Cornerback Trumaine Johnson injured his hamstring, head coach Adam Gase told reporters following practice, after intercepting quarterback Sam Darnold and running it back.

Johnson, who battled a quad injury in 2018 on the way to 10 appearances 40 tackles and four interceptions, is out indefinitely.

Early Sunday morning, the Jets announced that starting safety Marcus Maye had been removed from the Physically Unable to Perform List. The 2017 second round pick out of Florida had been out with nerve damage in his shoulder. When asked by media how it feels to be back, he responded with pleasure.

"It felt great, it's been a long process, but just getting out there running around and getting the feel of things, being out there with the guys, definitely feels good to be back," Maye said.

Maye was then asked if the process to getting back healthy has taken longer than he thought it would. "Yeah, but it wasn't in my control, nothing we could do about it," Maye said. "You just have to put your head down and go to work everyday, keep the same mindset knowing that it's going to get better and knowing the time is coming."

For most quarterbacks, being your own worst critic comes with the job title. But for Sam Darnold, he definitely has some outside critiques that get to him. 

SNY's Jeane Coakley sat down with Darnold, who explained how head coach Adam Gase as well as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Dowell Loggains are always chirping to him whenever they can. Entering his sophomore season, the Jets believe Darnold is their quarterback of the future, but tapping Darnold's true potential is what Gase and his staff are looking to do. 

And with that comes some constructive criticism -- nothing Darnold can't handle. He tells Coakley how he's become such a coachable player over the years, and it starts with a lesson from his mom at 12 years old...

Jets K Chandler Catanzaro has been struggling this training camp, and instead of letting the team decide what to do with him, he made the choice for them by retiring. 

Reports have been surfacing that Catanzaro wasn't consistent at training camp, and it spilled over into the first preseason game against the Giants on Thursday night. The veteran only hit one of his three extra-point attempts, but knocked in his only field goal at 34 yards. After missing his first PAT, his second was a straight shank that left Jets fans scratching their heads. 

Announcing his early retirement, Catanzaro's career ends after six NFL seasons. He began his time in the league with the Cardinals, where he would spend his first three seasons. He, then, made his way to the Jets in 2017, a season where he hit 25-of-30 field goals and made all 29 of his extra-point attempts.

The Jets brought back kicker Chandler Catanzaro this offseason, but the team could already be looking to replace him. 

Catanzaro, 28, missed two extra points in the Jets' preseason opening loss to the Giants on Thursday. 

The New York Daily News reports that the Jets will now hold workouts with kickers on Saturday, potentially to compete with Catanzaro as training camp rolls on. Potential kickers working out for the Jets include former All-Pro Blair Walsh, Chris Blewitt and the Jets could be interested in Kaare Vedvik. 

The Jets signed tight end Nick Truesdell on Saturday and released another former Mike Maccagnan draft pick in cornerback Derrick Jones. 

Trusedell returns to the Jets having signed with the team on Aug. 4. His first tenure with the Green & White only lasted two days before he was released to make room for offensive lineman Alex Lewis, who the Jets traded for.

Trusedell has bounced around indoor football leagues and landed on the Colts for a short stint in 2016. The 29-year-old was also cut by the Vikings in 2017 and played in the recently defunct AAF with the Salt Lake Stallions.

Quinnen Williams' NFL career with the Jets is just beginning, but that doesn't mean the rookie isn't thinking about life after football.

The Jets defensive tackle spoke about how he's taking time to learn to save his money, and how he thinks he could have a career in the business world after football.