Jeremy Ruckert has run the gamut of Green & White emotions in his 25 years. The tight end hails from Lindenhurst on Long Island and thus grew up in Jets territory and proudly wore their colors when he attended the preseason practices and regular-season games of his favorite team. He got to be selected by that team in Round 3 of the 2022 draft, then received a steadily increasing role in the offense from his rookie season through his fourth season this year.
And on Wednesday, Ruckert got to experience another J-E-T-S first — re-signing with his favorite team for the first time. The Jets announced they and the former Ohio State Buckeye agreed to a multiyear extension, and Ruckert in the afternoon was happy to talk about it.
"No doubt, it's the ultimate blessing," he said in the locker room as the Jets were preparing for a flight to the Big Easy and to play under the iconic Superdome in New Orleans against the Saints. "People might think it gets old but I live a dream every day I put this uniform on of the team I used to sit in the stands and watch. There's a sense of pride and passion just living the dream."
Ruckert said talks on the new package had been "in the works about a month" between his agent and general Darren Mougey and his staff. Aaron Glenn said the conversations about keeping "Ruck" around beyond the end of this season have gone on even longer, through the offseason and camp.
"He's tough, he's physical, he's versatile," Glenn said. "He's one of those guys that we can put in the fullback position. Obviously, he can play the tight end position. You can flex him out, and he's one of those guys that in the run and pass game, he's been pretty valuable for us. Some tight ends, they focus on the passing game some focus on being blockers. Man, he's one of those guys that can do both."
Ruckert never got to see AG play in person. He was born in the summer of 2000, during Glenn's next-to-last summer camp as a Jet before he headed to Houston, Dallas and points south to finish his playing career. But Ruckert knows plenty about Glenn, and in part that seems to be because the two — Glenn with his feisty cornerback-on-an-island mentality and Ruckert with his quiet, meat-and-potatoes, jack-of-all-trades TE — have developed an interesting relationship this year.
"He's one of the closest head coaches I've had in my football career," Ruckert said. "I have the ability to go to him and talk about anything. I wouldn't say he's hard on me. He just believes in me and stresses that I could do a lot of great things in this league."
Glenn didn't agree. He said he's been plenty hard on his tough TE from LI, and for good reason.
"I'm one of the coaches that's harder on Ruck that anybody, and the reason why is, man, there's so much meat on the bone with him improving," Glenn said. "And he's improved so much from the start of training camp up to now."
It's great to have a 6-5, 250-pound tight end to pair with rookie Mason Taylor and help the evolving position room become a bigger factor in the offense heading into the future. AG and the Jets, of course, need more than one man to turn that record around and get back to winning and playoff football. But both the coach and his mature player newly in the fold believe in the process.
What his tight end possesses, Glenn said, is "a true value for us in the system we're trying to build here."
And Ruckert said he's all-in with his head coach and with the team that's been his for a quarter of a century and figures o be his for a few more years ahead.
"Getting the support and commitment to be here the next couple of years to build this thing, I don't take that lightly at all," he said. "I'm super-grateful for the organization believing in me and giving me the chance to help build this thing the right way."
