Jets sign safety Marqui Christian — for real this time
Marqui Christian will be a member of the Jets organization after all.
Christian reportedly agreed to terms with the Jets back in March, but the deal fell apart after the two sides couldn’t ultimately agree on the final details. From there, Christain signed with the Chicago Bears in August and spent the first two weeks of the season on the reserve/suspended list.
He was supposed to join Chicago’s practice squad this week but terminated his contract with the Bears to sign with the Jets.
Christian enters New York’s safety room already having some familiarity with the defense. His rookie year in Los Angeles overlapped with Gregg Williams and Dennard Wilson, who were still a part of the Rams coaching staff in 2015. Through four seasons in Los Angeles, Christian started just one game and recorded three pass deflections and 83 tackles.
Christian went from being a special teamer to playing 34 percent of the Rams’ defensive snaps over each of the past two seasons. Christain saw extensive snaps at free safety in 2019, as well as 355 snaps on special teams, the second-highest total on the Rams.
How Christain fits into the mix remains to be seen. The Jets already have four safeties in Marcus Maye, Bradley McDougald, Ashtyn Davis and Matthias Farley, with three out of four of them being interchangeable. However, judging by how the defense has played across the past two weeks, it can’t hurt to add Christain, especially with his prior knowledge of the scheme. He can also provide an immediate impact on Brant Boyer’s unit.
