In the Jets' first preseason game, against the Commanders last Saturday, Jarrick Bernard-Converse, who played safety as a rookie, took his first professional snaps at cornerback.

He played 35 snaps on defense, recorded 4 four tackles and a one pass defense and showed the potential to be promise of being a formidable backup at the position for Green & White.

"I felt like I had a pretty good game," Bernard-Converse said. "I started out a little slower than I would have wanted but finished strong. ," Bernard-Converse said. "I think that is the most important thing, putting a good base in place. Now I have something to build off."

Bernard-Converse, drafted in the sixth-round out of LSU in 2023, missed then entirety of his first training camp with a foot injury. Added to the active roster in late October, he went on to appear in eight games and played primarily on special teams, taking just 4 four snaps on defense.

During the 2024 offseason, the Jets and Bernard-Converse made the decision to switch transition the second-year defender to cornerback full-time, and to take advantage of his length and athleticism.

"I feel like the transition is going well," Bernard-Converse. "Very smooth. I am just taking it day by -day trying to get better, learning new things from Sauce [Gardner] and D.J. [Reed] and just working on my craft daily."

Bernard-Converse split time at CB and S during his four years at Oklahoma State before transferring to LSU. In his final college season playing for the Tigers, he played 352 snaps at safety and 157 at cornerback.

In his debut at cornerback against Washington, going up against his former college teammate 2023 Heisman winner QB Jayden Daniels, he put together a strong performance despite allowing a long completion in the first quarter.

"You have just got to keep going," Bernard-Converse said about bouncing back after allowing the a 42-yard completion. "It is not the final play of the game; it was in the first quarter. I had three quarters to keep working and keep going so just had to put it behind me. I felt like I had to make a little adjustment after the first drive, but I got settled in."

On tThe first play of the second quarter, QB Jeff Driskel launched a pass deep to WR Olamide Zaccheaus that was , but the ball was batted away by Bernard-Converse in the endzone.

"I was working on staying over the top because that was the coverage," Bernard-Converse said. "I should have come down with the pick, but I deflected the pass so I guess I can't be too upset."

The pass defense by Bernard-Converse came on third down and led to a punt. The Jets scored on the next drive to tie the game, up 7-7. He finished the game with an 88.1 coverage grade according to Pro Football Focus and a team-high 87.9 defensive grade.

"Every day he is building his database whether he wins or loses, he is building this library of information in his brain," DC Jeff Ulbrich said. "It is really cool to see because he's such a smart and cerebral player. But at the same time, cornerback is still semi-new to him. He dabbled in it at Oklahoma State and LSU but to see him start to stack really solid days is exciting. We always knew JBC had tremendous length and speed, but the lack of experience is all that he is missing at this point."

And that experience will come. But in the meantime, he will continue to get a first-class education in CB play from Gardner, a two-time All-Pro, Reed and nickel Michael Carter II.

"We have the best corners in the game and so I am just trying to learn as much as I can from them," Bernard-Converse said. "I have always felt like I could play both positions, now it is just a matter of proving it."