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Early Wednesday morning, the agent of former Jets CB Isaiah Trufant tweeted that his client will become a member of the Cleveland Browns. Trufant played under Mike Pettine for two years with the Jets, but is a small defensive back (5-8, 170 lbs) who primarily plays special teams.
Congrats to @IsaiahTrufant for agreeing to terms with the browns. Much deserved and great things ahead!
— Doug Hendrickson (@DHendrickson41) March 12, 2014
Trufant is not a youngster by NFL standards. He went undrafted in 2006 and then entered the Arena Football League, where he played for several teams there and in the UFL over a four-year span. At the end of the 2010 season, Trufant was signed by the Jets to their practice squad, and even got called up for a regular season game by the end of the year. He spent camp with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2011, and after being waived, he was re-signed by the Jets and spent most of the year on their active roster. He had been there from up until this past season.
At 31 years old, Trufant regularly was among the special teams tackling leaders on the Jets, covering kickoffs and punts. He did make one start at cornerback against the Patriots in 2012, finishing the game with 6 tackles. Jets fans had a pretty favorable opinion of him, with 86% of fans saying they wouldn't mind him re-signing in New York. One game of good coverage against Wes Welker makes you a legend, apparently. The common opinion seemed to be that he was a nice player, but replaceable.
Isiash is the younger brother of Marcus Trufant and the older brother of Desmond Trufant, both of whom are also in the NFL.