{"id":216034,"date":"2025-09-10T17:22:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:22:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216034\/"},"modified":"2025-09-10T17:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-10T17:22:14","slug":"jets-release-xavier-gipson-after-fumble-in-season-opening-loss-to-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/216034\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets release Xavier Gipson after fumble in season-opening loss to Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Xavier Gipson is out of a job after a costly fumble in the New York Jets\u2019 season-opening loss<\/a> to Pittsburgh.<\/p>\n

Coach Aaron Glenn confirmed that the team released the wide receiver, but he insisted Wednesday he wasn\u2019t trying to send a message about accountability \u2014 something he has preached since being hired in January \u2014 by cutting Gipson after one game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want it to be known that decisions that are made are not rash decisions,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re never based off one incident. So, I will keep it at that. Xavier\u2019s a really good player and he\u2019s going to play in this league.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I felt it was time for us to move on in another direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gipson, in his third season with the Jets, was returning a kickoff in place of the injured Kene Nwangwu on Sunday when he had the momentum-changing mistake in New York\u2019s 34-32 loss. After the Steelers scored to make it a two-point game early in the fourth quarter, Gipson fumbled on the ensuing kickoff. Pittsburgh recovered and the Steelers took the lead two plays later on Aaron Rodgers\u2019 second TD throw in a 50-second span.<\/p>\n

Gipson continued to return kicks after the gaffe, which was the first turnover of the game. But afterward, Glenn bemoaned the team\u2019s turnovers<\/a> and declared: \u201cYou will not be on the field with this team if you\u2019re going to cause us to lose games, if you\u2019re going to cause issues like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

He backed that up Wednesday by cutting Gipson, although he reiterated that the decision wasn\u2019t based on that play alone. Gipson has 10 fumbles in 35 career games.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get the best players on this team that can play a role,\u201d Glenn said. \u201cAt this point, I just felt we needed to have a change at that spot. It\u2019s not just that as far as accountability. There\u2019s accountability in everything that we do. So, I don\u2019t want to pin it on, \u2018OK, he fumbled the ball, OK, he\u2019s getting (cut).\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNah, that\u2019s not it. There\u2019s a number of things that led up to this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nwangwu injured a hamstring early in the game, so Gipson \u2014 who was New York\u2019s primary punt returner \u2014 stepped in on the kickoff return unit. Glenn said Wednesday that Nwangwu\u2019s injury was still being evaluated.<\/p>\n

If Nwangwu is forced to miss time, the Jets have a few options, including Isaiah Williams, who was signed Wednesday off Cincinnati\u2019s practice squad. Isaiah Davis, rookie Arian Smith and practice squad members Jamaal Pritchett and Keilan Robinson, who was signed Tuesday, could also be in the mix to return kickoffs. Williams and Pritchett also could be options to replace Gipson as the primary punt returner.<\/p>\n

Glenn has familiarity with Williams, who was signed by Detroit \u2014 where Glenn was the defensive coordinator \u2014 last year as an undrafted free agent out of Illinois. He played in two games for the Lions before being waived and claimed by the Bengals.<\/p>\n

Gipson was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2023 out of Stephen F. Austin. He won a roster spot in training camp that summer and returned a punt 65 yards for the winning touchdown<\/a> in overtime to beat Buffalo in the season opener that year \u2014 the game during which Rodgers went down with a torn Achilles tendon four snaps into his debut for New York.<\/p>\n

The 24-year-old Gipson had 27 catches for 268 yards and a touchdown with the Jets, along with 73 yards rushing and a TD on nine carries. He averaged 8.9 yards on punt returns and 26 yards on kickoffs.<\/p>\n

Injuries<\/p>\n

Rookie tight end Mason Taylor is dealing with an ankle injury that kept him out of practice Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Taylor, the son of Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Taylor, missed just over a week<\/a> during training camp after suffering what the team said was a high ankle sprain<\/a>. Glenn confirmed the current issue is to the same ankle and added that the team is \u201cmanaging\u201d Taylor\u2019s injury.<\/p>\n

The second-round pick out of LSU had a 20-yard reception on his only target in his NFL debut.<\/p>\n

Defensive tackle Jay Tufele also sat out to handle a personal matter.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

This story has been corrected to show that Gibson was in his third, not second, season with the Jets.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NFL: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/NFL<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) \u2014 Xavier Gipson is out of a job after a costly fumble in the…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":216035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[59921,2390,118041,2733,10595,65751,118037,118038,118039,118042,118036,39694,401,405,403,5287,1232,9341,62,2732,118040,67,132,68,115131],"class_list":{"0":"post-216034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-aaron-glenn","9":"tag-aaron-rodgers","10":"tag-arian-smith","11":"tag-athlete-injuries","12":"tag-cincinnati","13":"tag-isaiah-davis","14":"tag-isaiah-williams","15":"tag-jamaal-pritchett","16":"tag-jay-tufele","17":"tag-keilan-robinson","18":"tag-kene-nwangwu","19":"tag-mason-taylor","20":"tag-new-jersey","21":"tag-new-york","22":"tag-new-york-city","23":"tag-new-york-jets","24":"tag-nfl","25":"tag-nfl-football","26":"tag-sports","27":"tag-sports-transactions","28":"tag-stephen-f-austin","29":"tag-united-states","30":"tag-unitedstates","31":"tag-us","32":"tag-xavier-gipson"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115181161717719152","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=216034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/216034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/216035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=216034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=216034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=216034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}