New York Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner will miss the season finale against the Miami Dolphins due to a hamstring injury.
Gardner has been dealing with this injury since Week 13 and missed the Jets’ previous game against the Dolphins. He played last week at Buffalo but didn’t return after leaving in the first half.
Gardner, who was an All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in both of his first two seasons, ended his third year with one interception, a sack, nine passes defensed, and 49 tackles.
The Jets (4-12) will finish their season on Sunday at MetLife Stadium, while the Dolphins (8-8) must win and have Denver lose to Kansas City in order to make the playoffs for the third year in a row.
Interim coach Jeff Ulbrich mentioned that tight end Tyler Conklin (calf), defensive tackle Quinnen Williams (hamstring), right tackle Morgan Moses (knee), and right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (ankle) will all be game-time decisions. All four were listed as questionable, but Conklin and Vera-Tucker participated in practice, while Williams and Moses did not.
Defensive tackle Leki Fotu is doubtful to play due to a knee injury.
With safety Chuck Clark going on injured reserve this week because of a torn pectoral muscle, Ulbrich said Ashtyn Davis would start in his place alongside Tony Adams.
Sherwood’s Honor
Linebacker Jamien Sherwood, who started as a backup at the start of the season, was voted the Jets’ MVP by his teammates.
“We had a lot of adversity this season, and obviously it didn’t go the way we wanted,” he said after the team’s final practice. “But to be recognized by my teammates, peers, future Hall of Famers, Pro Bowlers, All-Pro players, this means a lot to me.”
“I feel like not only my on-the-field play was able to help me win this award, but just the way I am amongst the locker room, amongst my teammates, always trying to find some type of energy, some type of enthusiasm to boost everybody up.”
The 2021 fifth-round draft pick out of Auburn was a converted safety who started seven games at linebacker in his first three NFL seasons. After C.J. Mosley got injured this season, Sherwood became a full-time starter.
He leads the Jets with 148 tackles, including a career-high 18 in their most recent game against Miami.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a harder worker, not only in this building, but any building in the NFL,” Ulbrich said.
Sherwood will be a free agent this offseason.
“I’m just so excited for the future now for him,” Ulbrich said. “Because it’s really planted seeds across the league as a guy that everybody’s going to want on their team, and he’s going to get rewarded for it. And he deserves every penny he’s going to get.”
