Will McDonald IV was labeled a freak athlete by Jets head coach Robert Saleh.
He was hailed as a potential difference-maker on the edge down the road.
The Jets thought so highly of him, they used the 15th-overall pick in the first round of the draft this past spring on the Iowa State star despite already having a loaded defensive line.
But so far, the rookie has hardly been on the field.
He played just 13 snaps in the season-opening, overtime win over the Bills and was inactive last Sunday for the loss to the Cowboys, replaced by veteran Carl Lawson.
“I wasn’t really tripping or anything. I was just doing what I was told,” McDonald told The Post on Thursday after practice. “I’m going to get my opportunity when the time comes. … I don’t let things upset me. Things happen, they’re meant to happen.”
Defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton broke the news to McDonald before the game this past Sunday.
He obviously would have liked to play, but he did his best to make a positive out of it.
It gave him a different vantage point of the game, an opportunity to improve by watching rather than doing.
“There’s always room to learn, especially being on the sidelines,” the 6-foot-3, 241-pound rookie said. “You can see everything.”
Defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said there wasn’t anything in particular the coaches feel has been lacking with McDonald.
He’s just getting his feet wet in the NFL at an incredibly deep position, and still has minor adjustments to make in terms of mastering the team’s defensive scheme.
Ulbrich was impressed with how well McDonald has responded from sitting on Sunday, though.
“Shoot, watching him today, I was fired up for him because he attacked practice today, I thought he attacked practice yesterday as well,” Ulbrich said. “There are some major improvements that you are starting to see in his game, all his intangibles, his freakiness athleticism, his speed, his bend, all that stuff. It’s starting to come to life as he starts to learn our defense.”
To McDonald, it was a minor setback, one he said he won’t let deter him.
“I like to see my boys play, though,” he said. “I’m going to eventually get my time. I’m a rookie, so there’s always room to learn. … I don’t really look at it as no bad thing or nothing that’s going to break or make me. It’s just more opportunities to come.”