The New York Jets wide receiver, Quincy Enunwa, will miss the entirety of the 2020-2021 NFL season after a neck injury he sustained in the 2019-2020 NFL season, which limited the young receiver to only one game.
After his second season in the league, where he caught 58 passes for 857 yards and four touchdowns, Enunwa injured his neck and had surgery to repair, forcing him the miss the entire 2017 NFL season. He rebounded with 449 receiving yards and one touchdown in newly drafted quarterback Sam Darnold’s rookie season. The bounce back season earned him a four-year, $33.4 million contract extension with the Jets, as the team attempted to surround Darnold with talented skill players.
In his one game of 2019, Enunwa caught only one pass before being ruled out with a neck injury. Now his career is in jeopardy, and the promising receiver may be forced into retirement due to the circumstances. Enunwa has played only one game on his $33.4 million contract.
The Jets, who didn’t trade up in the draft to select one of the many promising receivers, are also without receiver Josh Bellamy for the entire 2020-2021 season with a shoulder injury. Breshad Perriman and Josh Doctson are now the two main receivers for the Jets; an organization who has only two 1,000-yard receiving seasons in the past decade, both of which being in 2015 with Brandon Marshall (1,502) and Eric Decker (1,027).
Drafting Enunwa in the sixth-round of the 2014 NFL Draft, the Jets thought they found a diamond in the rough, as Enunwa quickly became a glue-piece for the team. The franchise will need to put more talent around Darnold if they wish to succeed, and only signing a 17-year veteran as backup running back isn’t the answer.
