Jets’ Jermaine Johnson inspired by paralyzed best friend who will finally watch him live

Jermaine Johnson will be making his long-anticipated return to the field on Sunday after losing all but two games of his 2024 season to a ruptured right Achilles.

And when the fourth-year Jets edge rusher charges out of the tunnel and onto the MetLife Stadium turf to play the Steelers, he will not be alone basking in that powerful moment.

Johnson’s best friend from childhood, Adam Daggs, will be in the building for the first time. Daggs will be watching from his wheelchair with his family and a nurse by his side at all times. And he’ll be wearing the widest smile in the place.

Daggs, at age 16, was paralyzed from the neck down when he was hit by a car while riding his bicycle home from a friend’s house in his and Johnson’s neighborhood in Eden Prairie, Minn.