The Jets' second-year safety Malachi Moore said he's always been a fan of Minkah Fitzpatrick, a safety who preceded him at Alabama is now a mentor and teammate with the Green & White after being acquired from Miami.

Beyond consuming videos of Fitzpatrick in mass quantities during his days with the Crimson Tide and his time in the NFL, Moore talked on Saturday about a humorous intersection between the two new teammates -- one from the South, the other a New Jersey native.

"Growing up, it was crazy, I was an Alabama fan, grew up in [Homewood] Alabama, so obviously watched a lot of 29 highlights," Moore said, referring to Fitzpatrick's jersey number then and now. "Whether that's sitting in class in high school or in college ... and for him to be on the team now is crazy. Just living up to him, like I said, coming out of high school, going to Alabama, he's all over the walls up there and everything."

And then, Alabama's legendary coach Nick Saban came into the conversation after practice to close out Week 2 of training camp.

"And I actually told him [Fitzpatrick] this funny story when I first got to college," Moore said. "My first couple of days there, Coach Saban was calling me Minka, like on the TV, like in film, and I'm like, 'Coach, it's Malachi.' But in the back of my head, I'm thinking, 'If you gonna mess my name up and call me anybody, hey, Minka is a pretty cool one to be called. But that was a funny little story I told him."

Moore (5-11, 196), a five-year starter at Alabama, was selected by the Jets in Round 4 (No. 130 overall) in the 2025 NFL Draft after the team traded back into the round to nab the tenacious safety. The selection paid instant dividends last year when Moore played in all 17 games (starting 14) and had a combined 101 tackles (56 total), 3 TFL, 3 PD and a forced fumble and a recovery.

As he prepares for the coming season, Moore is among a group of experienced safeties that includes Fitzpatrick, Dane Belton (signed in free agency from the Giants), Andre Cisco (who re-signed with the team) and a couple of others -- including rookie VJ Payne who HC Aaron Glenn will miss several weeks with an injury.

Moore, 24, said he's still pinching himself now that he's realized he is likely to be sharing the field with one of his favorite players.

"We never really had a real deep personal relationship," Moore said. "But ever since he got here, he's been great for me. Yeah, it's been great having a veteran guy like that. Knows a lot of football, been around the game a lot and you know we come from the same structure from college, so still had that same mindset, mentality, and like I said, it's just been great. Glad he's here."

He added: "Oh I was excited [when the Jets traded for Fitzpatrick, 29, in March]. I looked up to him in high school. I went to Bama, played, starred. Minka played and starred at Bama. So for me to play with somebody that I looked up to, really, really looked up to, it's a cool experience for sure. Just talking to him about how he sees the game, just constantly picking his brain about what you see here. Why'd you do this here? What [were] you thinking? Just constantly picking his brain and trying to soak up as much as I can."

For as well as he played last season as a rookie, Moore said he's committed to doing better.

"Honestly, I felt like it was decent," he said of the season. "Definitely a lot more plays out there to be made, and that's why I'm looking to take that next step this year and just be more comfortable out there. Like I said, enhance my football IQ and make more plays."