Gang Green Nation
Has Charles succeeded in replacing Justi Hardee on special teams?
One interesting offseason move the New York Jets made was to allow special teams captain Justin Hardee to walk. This forced Irv Charles into a higher-profile role just as potentially significant rules changes were coming into effect.
Last season, we expressed some concern over whether letting Hardee go and relying on Charles to step up was a risk.
While Charles emerged as someone who could be molded into a Hardee-style all-round special teams monster in 2023, there were signs that letting him take over that role from Hardee full-time would be short-sighted. Charles made several impact plays, but he was over-aggressive at times and had some costly plays where he over-pursued. He led the team in missed tackles on special teams and was at fault on the Derius Davis touchdown return while Hardee was on injured reserve.
Robert Saleh obviously admires Charles’ work on special teams, having referred to him as “an absolute wolf” during the season. However, his style is clearly somewhat reckless and erratic, so you’re playing with fire if you feature him in a key role and don’t surround him with other players who will rally to the ball effectively.
The return game numbers were alarmingly worse during the six games Hardee spent on injured reserve. Opposing teams racked up 371 return yards, averaging 23.7 yards per kickoff return and 12.5 yards per punt return. In the 11 games Hardee played, opposing teams only had 288 return yards, averaging 10.4 yards per kickoff return and 9.8 yards per punt return.
Now that we are halfway through the season, let’s assess how Charles has performed and whether the Jets have lost anything by allowing Hardee (who has spent time on the Cleveland Browns and Carolina Panthers special teams this season but not played) to leave.
The first thing to note is that special teams tackles alone are no longer necessarily an effective barometer of special teams performance. While you likely need to be among the league leaders to make it to the Pro Bowl - much as Hardee did in 2022 when he racked up 14 - the way the Jets have approached special teams this season makes this virtually impossible for any of their players.
Despite the new kickoff rules creating opportunities for teams to pin their opponents closer to their goal line, the Jets have largely been happy to kick touchbacks and have their opponents start at the 30, rather than risk a long return. (Or, possibly, opponents feel less than confident about running the ball out from the end zone against the Jets’ coverage units).
In addition, they haven’t given up many punt returns either, often because the gunners, primarily Charles himself, have done such a good job of getting downfield.
A former Jets special teamer, Nick Bellore, entered Sunday’s action as the league leader with 12 special teams tackles, but he’s getting far more opportunities to generate production, as...
