The New York Jets have made two moves involving former CFL players, signing return specialist Diontae Spencer and releasing punter Ty Long. The news came one week after the Jets made the exact opposite transactions, signing Long and releasing Spencer from the practice roster.
Spencer was added to the team’s practice roster on Tuesday, Sept. 6. He played 42 games over the past three seasons with the Denver Broncos (2019-21) and served as the team’s primary return specialist. He fielded 68 punts for 667 yards and scored one touchdown while adding 47 kickoff returns for 1,008 yards. He also caught 10 passes for 54 yards, while rushing six times for 25 more.
The McNeese State product played 57 career CFL games as a member of the Toronto Argonauts (2015-16) and Ottawa Redblacks (2017-18) and caught 259 passes for 3,137 yards and 17 touchdowns. He also added 191 punt returns for 2,162 yards and two touchdowns, 90 kickoff returns for 1,977 yards, and eight missed field goal returns for 310 yards and another score.
Long spent the past three seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers, punting 151 times for 7,016 yards, averaging 46.5 yards per kick. He briefly handled double duty with the team in 2019, making seven-of-nine field goal attempts and all nine convert attempts. He was not retained by the team after his most recent contract expired.
The UAB product was a CFL all-star in 2017 and 2018 after two productive seasons with the B.C. Lions. He played in 36 games, making 82-of-92 field goal attempts (88.2 percent) with a long of 52 yards, plus 58-of-65 extra points (89 percent). He also punted 236 times for an average of 48.3 yards.
The Jets are currently 1-1 after completing a remarkable comeback against the Cleveland Browns to win 31-30 in Week 2 of the NFL regular season.
