After suiting up for the Jets just once last season, Lamarcus Joyner wasn’t about to start playing games in free agency.
“It was either the Jets or I was going to retire,” Joyner said after practice Friday. “I love this organization that much.”
You might expect a franchise icon to give that kind of market restriction to his agent, but not Joyner, whose first season with the Jets in 2021 was over almost before it started. He tore his triceps muscle just nine defensive snaps into his Week 1 start at safety and soon underwent season-ending surgery.
Combined with his two previous frustrating seasons with the Raiders — he was playing out of position and looking to be “rejuvenated” — the injury nearly drove Joyner out of the NFL. Until he came to see his bad fortune as a blessing in disguise.
“I was able to step away from the game and get back mentally and spiritually right with myself,” Joyner said. “I did everything I could to come back in tip-top shape. … It was a lot of personal stuff, but the Jets were very supportive. My wife, my family, everyone was very supportive, so that gave me that extra push that I needed.”
The Jets still believed in Joyner, 31, and signed him to a one-year, $2.6 million contract just before free agency opened. Joyner’s return offered some stability — with the eventual move from Marcus Maye to free-agent acquisition Jordan Whitehead at the other safety spot — and a chance for second-year backup Jason Pinnock to ease into his move from cornerback.
“He’s a calming force in the back end,” head coach Robert Saleh said of Joyner. “He does a great a job communicating. Him and Jordan make a really cool team. You can tell he’s got some fresh legs. Excited to see him in game action on Sunday, and I’m really happy that he’s back.”
It was actually Saleh’s presence that lured Joyner back. A mutual respect gained over years on opposite sides of the Rams-49ers rivalry increased when they were inside the same facility.
“I love his mentality, I love his standards and I love his defensive scheme,” Joyner said. “[The defense] is complex, but it’s simple enough to, once you read your keys, you can fly around. You never want to be in a defense that makes you think too much.”
Joyner isn’t looking at 2022 as his retirement tour.
“It’s not one of those one-foot-in, one-foot-out [situations],” Joyner said. “I’m all-in until I decide to walk away from the game. That’s the way I desire to end it — and I don’t see it any time soon with the way I feel.”
The Jets’ defense ranked last in the NFL last season, but could be set up for a big turnaround with seven new starters — young and old — if Joyner and Carl Lawson (zero games played) are included.
“You need some balance and some stability to your locker room,” Joyner said. “Having the core of a bunch of young guys that are determined and some veterans that have the ability to play and lead those guys to show them the way.”