Jets Training Camp Preview | Safeties’ Room Is Revamped and Re-Energized

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After four seasons in Tampa Bay’s defensive backfield, Jordan Whitehead, 25, was snapped up by the Jets early in the free-agency period. He is the jewel in the crown of a position group that was challenged last season by a raft of injuries (Lamarcus Joyner played in one game; Marcus Maye, who subsequently signed with New Orleans, played in six) and inexperience.

“We are so fortunate to have gotten him,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said of Whitehead. “He is an amazing human being. Every day he does something that just lights me up again. Like damn, he can do that, he can do that, he can do that.

“I don’t know what his role was in Tampa regarding whether he was a leader or not, but he has absolutely assumed that role here with the fellas. They absolutely gravitate toward him, and they follow his lead and he does a great job of that. It’s just rare that you get a guy in free agency like that because typically when you check all the boxes physically, you check all the boxes from a character standpoint, teams don’t let you go. The fact that we were able to get him is huge.”

Whitehead (5-10, 198) has not played fewer than 14 games and has not made fewer than 50 solo tackles in any of his four seasons in the NFL since being drafted out of Pittsburgh in the fourth round (No. 117 overall) in the 2018 NFL Draft.

“Amazing human being, teammate, like constantly bringing people along, bringing the young guys along, great communicator,: Ulbrich said. “All the stuff, obviously we study the tape, and we get a good feel for the player, but as far as the man, he was everything that was advertised coming from Tampa. I got some people over there that I really respect from a coaching standpoint and a playing standpoint, and he was stamped by everybody as far as the character. He has absolutely lived up to that. He increases, obviously, what we do on the grass, but he improves the locker room as well.”