As you may have already heard, the Jets won’t be playing starters in Saturday night’s preseason opener against the Commanders at MetLife Stadium.
While that’s not an attractive draw for Jets fans who want to see the likes of Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Breece Hall, Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams, it’s lifeblood for a guy like Tre Swilling and the many other faceless backups fighting for their professional lives to earn a job.
Swilling, the 25-year-old son of former NFL star linebacker Pat Swilling, who compiled 107 ½ sacks in his pro career, is a poster child for players who view Saturday night’s preseason opener as a Super Bowl of sorts.
4 Tre Swilling (L.) and his father Pat. Pat and Robin Swilling
The NFL path for Swilling, who’s fourth on the depth chart at cornerback, has not been the same as it was for his father, who was a third-round draft pick by the Saints in 1986. Pat Swilling played all 16 games as a rookie, was a starter by his second season and played in New Orleans for seven seasons before moving on to Detroit for two years and Oakland for three.
Tre Swilling was signed by the Jets on Aug. 2, after having bounced from the Titans to the Saints to the 49ers to the Ravens en route to Florham Park, N.J.
“It’s very difficult, especially when you look at the outside narrative of a player who was undrafted as a rookie and you get cut by the same team that brought you in,” Swilling told The Post after Thursday’s joint practice with the Commanders. “I feel like my journey specifically has been a bunch of hula hoops and hurdles to swim through.”
4 Tre Swilling had a brief stint with the Ravens before joining the Jets. AP
Swilling, a sharp (he graduated Georgia Tech in three years), articulate, upbeat young man, wasn’t complaining about his plight.
When you speak to Swilling, you hear someone who’s confident in the path he’s on and someone who doesn’t plan on giving up. He’s someone who’s easy to root for, not the son of a former star player who believes he’s entitled to preferential treatment.
“My dad and I talk every day — regardless of whether it’s about football or not,” Swilling said. “He’s very proud of me, because it’s very hard for it to happen two times (a father and son make it in NFL). He did it, and I have aspirations to go do the same thing.’’
Listening to Pat Swilling speak of his youngest son, it doesn’t sound like Tre needs a lot of pushing.
“Tre is one of those kids that once he sets his eye on something, man, he goes after it,” Pat Swilling told The Post on Friday. “He’s fought his ass off. He’s played for two of the best teams in the NFL with the 49ers and Ravens, and stayed with the Ravens the whole year [in 2023]. So, those teams saw something in him.
“We’re hoping and praying the Jets see what they saw and give him the opportunity to get on the field and play. He’s the consummate pro who puts in the work, and I hope the Jets see that. We just need someone to pull the trigger and let him play. I hope and pray this is our opportunity.”
4 Pat Swilling (No. 56) starred for the Saints. AP
Tre Swilling was born in 1999, one year after Pat retired from the NFL, so the only way he’s been able to see his dad play was through old highlights or YouTube.
“There are always things that come up where a coach or someone will recognize my last name and they’ll bring things up about my dad, and shows me he really was a legend,” he said. “He made his mark and made a name for himself, and I’m trying to do the same.”
Swilling’s journey is not unlike many of his fellow undrafted free agents who have occupied the bottom 10th of NFL rosters. They’re as transient as tourists running through Disney World.
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He was signed by the Titans after the 2022 draft and waived at the end of that training camp. He was signed several weeks later by the Saints to their practice squad, calling that “a cool experience walking in the same building where my father played.”
That “cool experience” lasted only three weeks before he was released. After nearly three months being out of work, he was signed by the 49ers in December of 2022 to their practice squad. That lasted a week before he was released. San Francisco, in February of 2023, signed him back to a reserve/future contract.
Swilling finally got a taste of an NFL game day in uniform in 2023, playing two games for the 49ers on special teams before being released and signed by the Ravens in October of 2023 to their practice squad.
4 Tre Swilling (R.) with parents Pat and Robin. Pat and Robin Swilling
Now he’s on the Jets, his fifth NFL team in less than three years.
“I’m thankful the Jets gave me this opportunity to get the preseason to show my worth,” he said.
His first chance to do that will come Saturday night at MetLife.