Jets LB C.J. Mosley’s Game Status Will ‘Go Down to the Wire’

After not practicing Wednesday or Thursday, Jets LB C.J. Mosley’s status for Sunday’s game at New England will be determined in a pregame workout.

“He’s such a seasoned veteran and he’s been through these situations, so it’s really relying on the player to make the sound decision for not only himself, but the organization and the team,” HC Robert Saleh said. “You also don’t want to go out there, play the first series and now you’re out where our depth is hit. C.J. is very smart, he’s been working relentlessly and if he’s feeling it on Sunday, he’ll be rolling.”

Mosley, one of five team captains, leads the team with 45 tackles is tied for ninth in the NFL averaging 9 tackles per game. He also has a sack, a pass defense and a forced fumble. Mosley, who relays the plays from DC Jeff Ulbrich to the defense, told reporters earlier this week that he didn’t feel like he needed to practice to play on Sunday against the Patriots. If he can’t play, rookie LB Jamien Sherwood will wear the green dot.

“With Jamien, it’s almost like, ‘Hey, man. You don’t have to communicate for everybody,’ ” Saleh said. “The amount of stuff he gets out of his mouth pre-snap wise with regards to close call, checks and all of it, is fascinating for a rookie. He’s very confident. He knows everybody’s job and our confidence in him with the green dot is fine.”

Other than Sherwood, the Jets LBs consist of Blake Cashman, Del’Shawn Phillips, and Quincy Williams, who is one of two players in the NFL with at least 30 tackles and 5 tackles for loss. Williams also leads the league with 3 forced fumbles. The Green & White have LB Noah Dawkins on the practice squad and he’s familiar with the system after spending the offseason with the team. 

“I try not to force myself to have them sit down with me and watch film,” Mosley said. “If they want to watch film willingly, I’m 100% with it. When we’re all meeting together, we’re all talking. If I see anything or if anybody sees anything as far as the formation that we know from players or anything from the past, it’s pretty much an open mic in the linebacker room. So, we talk about all the little keys that we see. I think, honestly, we prepare ourselves real well in the linebacker room, just what we need to do on our side and what to expect from our opponents with their formation and things like that. I know Quincy has been joking with me a lot about, ‘I’m going to be talking to you all week.’ But I’m very confident in our linebacker group. I’m very confident in whoever we have on the field, because our guys have proven that they can make plays and they have been making plays since spring ball and training camp and preseason and all of that.”