An undrafted Indiana product, Marcelino McCrary-Ball has become a Jets special teams captain and steady depth linebacker.
Marcelino McCrary-Ball has worked his way up from the practice squad to a captaincy on New York's special teams unit, valued for his tackling instincts even when a hamstring injury cut his 2025 season short. He remains one of the Jets' more reliable depth pieces at linebacker.
Path to the league
McCrary-Ball played at Indiana from 2016 to 2021, recording 242 career tackles, 16.5 for loss, five and a half sacks, 16 pass deflections and four interceptions. He went undrafted in 2022 and signed with the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Jets' practice squad in August 2023.
Career highlights
McCrary-Ball made his NFL debut in Week 11 of the 2023 season against Buffalo and was promoted to New York's active roster in January 2024. He appeared in 12 games during the 2024 season, working primarily as a special teams contributor, and was named a Jets special teams captain ahead of the 2025 season.
2025 season recap
McCrary-Ball appeared in five games in 2025, recording 23 combined tackles and a forced fumble across 120 special teams snaps and 106 defensive snaps before a hamstring injury landed him on injured reserve on September 23.
Sources
- Wikipedia: Marcelino McCrary-Ball
- ESPN: Marcelino McCrary-Ball
Statistics
2025 season and career2025 Season · Defense
5 games played▶Defense · career
| Year | Team | GP | TOT | SOLO | SACK | INT | FF | FR | PD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | jets | 5 | 23 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 2024 | jets | 12 | 7 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Player Profile
Background
- Position
- Linebacker
- Group
- defense
- College
- Indiana
- Hometown
- Roswell, GA, USA
- Age
- 27
- Status
- active
