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The numbers don’t paint a glowing picture of Micheal Clemons’ contributions. The costly penalties throughout his Jets career — including another one Sunday — haven’t helped, either.
But head coach Aaron Glenn defended the fourth-year defensive lineman before practice Wednesday, saying he has provided Gang Green with more than the concrete results have demonstrated.
“Sometimes when people, when they don’t see a stat, they feel like a player hasn’t done anything right,” Glenn said before the Jets practiced in Florham Park, “but there’s other things that go on in the game that we ask players to do — that, again, that people really don’t understand.
“… Listen, everybody has ups and downs when it comes to playing, and the things that we are asking Mike to do, he’s doing a good job at that. Does he need to improve? Absolutely, like everybody else, all right? But we know exactly what we are doing with Mike.”
There could be a window of opportunity for Clemons to take on additional snaps if Jermaine Johnson — who didn’t practice Wednesday due to an ankle injury — can’t play Sunday, though Glenn downplayed that notion by saying Clemons “will see the role that we’ve been giving him for the whole time he’s been here.”
Through two games, Clemons has recorded just one assisted tackle in 72 defensive snaps, according to Pro Football Focus. He hasn’t generated a pressure. Hasn’t produced a quarterback hit. Hasn’t recorded a sack, either. His PFF grade of 45.4 is the ninth worst among all edge rushers in the NFL.
And then there are the penalties, which Glenn has been adamant about reducing team-wide dating back to the early days of training camp.
Early in Sunday’s loss, Clemons was called for roughing the passer after slamming into Josh Allen when the Bills quarterback released an incomplete pass on third down. He was also called for unnecessary roughness in the preseason when he got into a fight with a Packers player, in addition to brutal penalties throughout 2024.
“I did my best to hit him clean,” Clemons told The Post’s Brian Costello on Sunday. “I have to look at it and observe it, but they threw the flag at the end of the day.”
Sauce Gardner called his matchup with star Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans “a great opportunity,” noting that Evans has been in the NFL “for a minute” and that he used to watch him. It’s the first time the Jets have faced Tampa Bay since drafting Gardner in 2022.
“That’s what [Gardner] lives for, is those matchups,” cornerback Brandon Stephens told The Post.
S Tony Adams (hip), WR Josh Reynolds (hamstring), CB Michael Carter II (shoulder), QB Justin Fields (concussion), RB Kene Nwangwu (hamstring), DL Jay Tufele (illness) and Johnson all didn’t practice for the Jets on Wednesday. LB Marcelino McCrary-Ball was a limited participant, while S Andre Cisco (shoulder), LB Kiko Mauigoa (elbow) and Gardner (groin) practiced fully. … For the Buccaneers, rookie WR Emeka Egbuka — who has caught three touchdown passes across his first two NFL games — didn’t practice due to hip and groin injuries.
