The Jets will be without one of their top receivers against the Broncos Sunday.
Elijah Moore will not travel with the rest of the Jets to Denver it was announced a day after his trade request. He will stay in Florham Park and train with the performance team and will rejoin the team on Monday.
“To ask him to play a football game from where he is from a mental standpoint wouldn’t be fair to him, in my opinion,” Jets coach Robert Saleh said. “But that is strictly my decision.”
It’s been an eventful week for Moore despite the Jets’ surprising 4-2 start. Mere hours after Gang Green’s 27-10 victory at Green Bay, Moore quoted a tweet saying he was targetted zero times.
“If I say what I really wanna say… I’ll be the selfish guy…we winning,” Moore said. “Grateful! Huge blessing! All I ever wanted. Bittersweet for me, but I’ll be solid. So I’ll just stay quiet. Just know I don’t understand either.”
Monday, Saleh said he had spoken to Moore and he was “fine.” However, Moore was nowhere to be seen during Thursday’s practice as Saleh told reporters that the second-year player was excused from practice to deal with a family matter.
A source told the Daily News that Moore was sent home following a disagreement with Jets offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
“Like everything, it gets to a boiling point,” Saleh said. “He showed his displeasure and we felt like it was just best for him to relax, calm down, take a down, catch your breath and we’ll reconvene at another time.”
During the time when the Jets were practicing, Moore sent a series of cryptic tweets.
“God, I need direction,” Moore sent in a now-deleted tweet. He also tweeted, “God makes no mistakes…I trust u through it Allllll”
Moore had a strong rookie season where he recorded 43 receptions for 538 yards and five touchdowns. However, Moore hasn’t received as many opportunities during the Jets’ first six games. He currently has 16 catches for 203 yards and no touchdowns.
What has hurt Moore especially is Gang Green’s dedication to running the ball more, especially since Zach Wilson returned from his knee injuries.
“It could be as you can view it a million ways,” Saleh said. “For me, just knowing the individual and knowing what he wants, he wants to contribute. He’s a competitive kid, he’s a competitive man.
“He feels like he can do more within the offense to help us cross the goal line. That’s admirable as you want your guys to have that type of confidence in themselves where they know they can do more for the offense.”
“We are in a really cool situation where Corey Davis deserves the ball, Garrett Wilson deserves the ball, Breece Hall deserves the ball. So does Braxton Berrios, so does Michael Carter, so does the tight ends, so does Elijah. Mike LaFleur has done a really nice job of creating a bunch of different personnel packages because of the guys that we have to create different ways to get people the ball.”
The Jets are off to their best start since 2015, winning three consecutive games. Hall and Gang Green’s rushing attack has been a significant contributor, and so has its defense.
Through six games, the Jets are ninth in total defense, as they’re allowing 313.2 yards per game. With all the team’s early success, this could be a distraction for some teams. However, the Jets have maintained a “Positive Vibes Only” motto that they say allows them to get through adversity.
“I think our locker room is fine, it is a rock-solid group,” Saleh said. “We all love Elijah. We all understand the business aspect of it.
“We all know where his heart is and the character that we drafted. Elijah is a great kid. He is out there, he works his tail off. He does everything that’s asked of him.
“I get that this can look bad, but that’s part of what we go through in our business. I will stand by that young man every day of the week, knowing exactly where he is and where he needs to get and where he’s going to go. Whether or not his patience with ourselves or with other people, this is one of those cases where in my opinion, he’s going to be a great football player in this league for a long time.”
Moore’s loss this weekend will be Denzel Mims’ gain as the third-year receiver will finally get a chance to play after he requested a trade of his own during the preseason. Mims was unhappy with being buried on the depth chart, but the team refused to move on from the former Baylor Bear.
He has been a healthy scratch during the six games this year. But Mims has been working with the scout team and trying to stay prepared in case he got his moment to play.
“It is hard in his shoes, but right now the other guys are playing good football, you can only dress five and there’s a special teams value and all that stuff like we’ve talked about,” Saleh said.
“The reason why Denzel is here is because we still have a lot of faith in him, and he needs to continue working and be ready when his number is called.”
