The Jets have moved quickly to honor defensive end Dennis Byrd, a former player who died on Saturday and whose career ended as a result of a 1992 neck injury.
The team will wear a helmet decal bearing Byrd’s number 90 for Monday night’s game against the Cardinals. Per a source with knowledge of the team’s plans, the Jets will wear the decal tonight and on Sunday against the Ravens. The Jets may continue to wear it beyond that.
The Jets retired Byrd’s number in 2012, and no one had worn it during the 20 years before it was formally set aside.
Byrd, an Oklahoma native, was a second-round pick of the Jets in 1992. He died in an automobile accident near Tulsa, which occurred when a 17-year-old veered an SUV into Byrd’s oncoming Hummer H2.
[Photo credit: Twitter.com/NewYorkJets.]