Fitzpatrick Is Doubtful. Cooper Is Gone. The Jets' Back Four Has a Problem.

Minkah Fitzpatrick is listed doubtful, and the material news from the past two weeks makes clear that Omar Cooper Jr. is no longer in the picture either. That is two secondary pieces — one experienced, one a piece of the new-look depth — gone or effectively gone before this reset has produced a meaningful snap.

I've been tracking this back end since before the season opened. The Jets traded Sauce Gardner in July and watched Jamal Adams leave for Minnesota shortly after, stripping the unit of its two most recognizable names. What replaced them was always going to be thin. Qwan'tez Stiggers, who collapsed at a joint practice in August and was transported by ambulance, is back on active status — which is genuinely good news — but he is still the kind of player you want easing into a season, not anchoring one. Samuel Womack sits atop the cornerback depth chart. D'Angelo Ponds is questionable. VJ Payne is on injured reserve.

The depth chart at defensive back now runs through Azareye'h Thomas, Dane Belton, and Ponds — none of whom were brought in as centerpiece answers to the Gardner-Adams void. That was always the gamble of this offseason: gut the secondary, trust the rebuild, hope the new pieces held together. Two weeks in, they are not holding together.

Aaron Glenn is already in the conversation for first coach fired. A secondary that cannot stay healthy long enough to be evaluated is not going to help that conversation go away.