New York Jets’ Kene Nwangwu Named AFC Special Teams Player of Week

New York Jets special teams ace Kene Nwangwu is having a great week after his game-changing kickoff return last weekend.

Dec 1, 2024; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; New York Jets running back Kene Nwangwu (34) returns a kickoff for a touchdown during the second quarter against the Seattle Seahawks at MetLife Stadium. | Mark Smith-Imagn Images

The week just keeps getting better for New York Jets kick returner Kene Nwangwu, as he was named the AFC Special Teams Player of the Week earlier this week.

On Monday, the Jets signed him to a contract for the rest of the season, putting him on the 53-man roster. That came one day after he returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown.

While most remember the kickoff return, he also won the award for forcing a fumble on a Seattle kickoff return earlier in the game.

It was his first action of the season as he was on the Jets’ practice squad until he was elevated to the active roster on Saturday.

Nwangwu, with the Jets up 14-7 in the second quarter, received a kickoff 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 the return.

"The return happened just like we drew it up," he said to reporters after the game. "I saw Irv [Charles] come down and kick out a defender, I read him and then up toward the middle of the field. Someone almost tackled me and then we were up the sideline. I slowed down to get a block and then got to the end zone and finally got to celebrate."

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. New York signed him to the active roster to protect him from other teams. If he was moved back to the practice squad, he could have been signed away from the Jets, as kicker Spencer Shrader was a few weeks ago.