Not much on the highlight film for the Jets in their season finale Sunday, a 9-6 loss to Miami that featured zero touchdowns on either side, but there was one cool piece of history: Jeremy Ruckert’s first NFL catch.
Ruckert, the Jets’ third-round pick at No. 101 overall, was the only of Gang Green’s seven 2022 draftees to not make much of an impact this season, as he played in just eight games and saw a total of 27 offensive snaps and one target entering Sunday’s finale.
He dropped that one target, way back in Week 2 in Cleveland, but he made the most of his second chance, recording his first NFL grab, an eight-yard catch on the Jets’ first play of the fourth quarter:
And perhaps no one was more fired up than his dad, Bill:
Ruckert is from Lindenhurst, where he led his school to its first Long Island Class I Title and was New York’s Gatorade Player of the Year in 2017 after making 61 catches for 1,094 yards and 13 TD on offense and recording 61 tackles, 13 sacks, and two interceptions on defense.
He then spent four years at Ohio State, and finished his career with 54 catches for 615 yards and 12 TD in 46 games, including two trips to the College Football Playoff.
Perhaps Ruckert’s coolest NFL tidbit before Sunday was his trade tree: the No. 101 pick originally belonged to New Orleans, and the three deals that saw it go from the Saints to the Eagles to the Titans to the Jets included A.J. Brown, the pick that became teammate Jermaine Johnson, and two picks that became star rookie receivers Treylon Burks and Jahan Dotson.
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