The New York Jets have lost a key rotational piece on defense in the latter stages of free agency.
The Arizona Cardinals announced on social media that they have signed safety Isaiah Oliver. In a corresponding roster move, they parted ways with placekicker Joshua Karty.
Oliver, 29, will turn 30 during the 2026 season. He originally joined the Jets in 2024 during free agency. Oliver spent the last two seasons with the green and white.
During that run, he appeared in 31 games and made nine starts. With those opportunities, he collected six pass deflections, a sack, two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, and 112 total tackles.
In terms of headlines, Oliver arriving at 1 Jets Drive was a shoulder shrug emoji.
The former Colorado product entered the league as the No. 58 overall pick in the second round of the 2018 NFL draft.
He spent the first five years of his NFL career with the Atlanta Falcons. In 2023, he jumped on the San Francisco 49ers. Then, most recently, he has been with the Jets.
Jets Will Miss Their Break-the-Glass Defender
The thing the Jets will miss the most is his versatility. That was his superpower with the green and white.
Oliver had 622 total snaps with the Jets this past season. He lined up all over the field according to Pro Football Focus:
- Defensive line (23 snaps)
- Box (144 snaps)
- Slot corner (67 snaps)
- Wide corner (10 snaps)
- Free safety (78 snaps)
- Kick coverage (54 snaps)
- Kick return (69 snaps)
- Punt coverage (59 snaps)
- Punt return (57 snaps)
- Field goal/Extra Point (61 snaps)
A story that perfectly illustrates that versatility transpired during the 2024 season. Jeff Ulbrich, who juggled being the defensive coordinator and interim head coach, explained how Oliver stepped up to the plate.
To set the scene, at the time, Michael Carter II was the starting slot corner for the Jets. In pre-game warmups before a game, he got hurt, and Oliver replaced him in the lineup after a conversation with Ulbrich.
“Yeah, he is the Swiss army knife. It’s interesting, he is such a rare individual. MC gets hurt during pre-game, we’re in pajamas a couple of hours pre-game. I’m talking about 15 minutes before the ball is kicked off. So that’s challenging. To prep a player who hasn’t had any reps or wasn’t ready to rock and roll at that particular position. For me to go up to Isaiah in that circumstance and say, ‘Hey, can you play nickel?’ Yes. What calls are you comfortable with? All of them. We go into the locker room, and I hand him the call sheet, and he looks at it front and back. He is like, ‘call it all.’ So to have a player like that from a coaching perspective brings you so much more security, and he’s an invaluable piece to what we’re trying to get accomplished,” Ulbrich said at the time.
Cool Behind the Scenes Story
Jets veteran Harrison Phillips has an annual tradition. Every year after his team drafts a fresh crop of new rookies, he reaches out “via text to welcome them to the team. It’s his thing; he’s done it for nine years on three different teams. Typically, the replies are short, stuff like, ‘Nice to meet you, bro,’” ESPN’s Rich Cimini said.
However, this year Phillips revealed that he received some well-thought-out responses.
“They were really nice written messages,” Phillips told the local media via Cimini. “I was like, ‘Hey, this is a little different. This hasn’t happened every place I’ve been.’”
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