Kene Nwangwu played his way into a 53-man roster spot, thanks to his kickoff return for a touchdown, as the New York Jets announced his signing on Monday.
To make room, New York (3-9) released running back Israel Abanikanda.
Nwangwu was promoted from the practice squad on Saturday for the first time this season and he made an immediate impression in the second quarter.
The Seahawks had just scored a touchdown to cut New York’s lead to 14-7 when they kicked off to the Jets.
Nwangwu caught the football at the 1-yard line, found a seam at the left hashmark at the Jets 30 and then blazed a trail down the home sideline for a 99-yard touchdown return.
It was the fourth kickoff return of his career. With the signing, it puts the status of players like Xavier Gipson in doubt, in terms of their number of reps in the return game.
Nwangwu has been one of the most prolific returners in the NFL since he was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the fourth round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Iowa State.
He spent three seasons with the Vikings. He returned two kickoffs for touchdowns his rookie season, earned NFL Special Teams Player of the Week honors and was named to the Pro Football Writers of America All-Rookie Team.
He returned another kickoff for a touchdown in 2022.
He missed all of 2023 due to an injury and was waived by the Vikings in August of his year as part of final roster cuts. The New Orleans Saints claimed him off waivers on Aug. 28 but waived him the next day after he failed a physical.
Nwangwu signed with the Jets’ practice squad in September. He did not log any time on the field until Sunday.
The Jets (3-9) guaranteed themselves another losing season after falling to the Seahawks. Team management, led by owner Woody Johnson has basically declared the season over. During the bye week he fired general manager Joe Douglas two months after he fired head coach Robert Saleh.
For Jets fans hoping that Johnson would step aside from his role in Jets leadership for a job in the upcoming Trump administration, those hopes were temporarily dashed when his previous role, ambassador the United Kingdom, was given to someone else. Johnson could end up with a different role.
The Saleh move didn’t pay off as interim coach Jeff Ulbrich was 1-6 going into Sunday’s game.
