Jets place Nick Mangold on IR; has he played his last game for New York?

As the New York Jets grind toward the end of what will be a losing season, they will do so without one of their stalwarts: the team placed veteran center Nick Mangold on injured reserve on Thursday.

Mangold suffered a right ankle injury in late October that kept him out of the lineup for several weeks; he returned on Monday night against the Indianapolis Colts, but was unable to finish the game. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport tweeted early Thursday that Mangold was headed to get a second opinion from Dr. Robert Anderson in North Carolina, and Dr. Anderson’s diagnosis must have led to the decision to shut Mangold down for the season.

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The question now is whether Mangold has played his last game with the Jets. He has just one year remaining on the seven year, $54 million deal he signed in 2011; keeping Mangold in 2017 carries a cap cost of just over $9 million ($6.075 million base salary, $2.4 million roster bonus, $500,000 workout bonus), but with no dead money, cutting him would cost nothing against the cap.

The 29th overall pick in 2006, Mangold is a seven-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team Associated Press All-Pro. He has started every game he has played in with the Jets, missing just three games over the first 10 years of his career; he will miss eight games this season.