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Here is another heaping helping of Dan’s Website Whispers . . . here we go . . .
The Jets management has done an incredible job keeping the number of unsold PSL’s a secret. We’ve heard 10,000, 17,000, all kind so different numbers. But no matter who I talk to in the business side of sports, nobody seems to know the true number.
But one network executive did say to me, “I bet they drop the rates on the remaining PSL’s 65 percent in August.”
The Jets recently cut the prices by 50 percent, and team officials have told me sales have been brisk, but it’s hard to quantify what that means . . .
I’m not sure who is to blame, but for Kris Jenkins to get up to close to 400 pounds while rehabbing a torn ACL was troubling. It became a big joke in the spring when word of a weight loss contest was going on between Jenkins, Rex Ryan and Damien Woody. There is actually nothing funny about this situation.
Jenkins now has two surgically repaired knees. Do you think it was a good idea for him to be walking around at four beans with on two surgical knees? No.
And I know everyone is talking about him getting down to 360, but he probably needs to go further than that. The older you get in the league, you should look to play at a lighter weight, especially on two bad wheels. In his last couple of years in the league, Giants defensive end Mike Strahan was so thin he looked like a linebacker. After a lot of years in the league, and all the wear-and-tear on your bones and joints, the less weight the better.
So for Jenkins to balloon up this off-season was short-sighted.
And we hear he’s doing some kind of cooking show now. That can’t be helpful.
I’m not making light of the man’s weight problem for one second, but he needs to get control of it, for the sake of his football life and his real life . . .
Speaking of Woody, he looked like he gained some pounds this off-season. The Jets right tackle had major weight issues while in Detroit, and it’s something he constantly needs to stay on top of . . .
While this hasn’t been getting a lot of attention, keep an eye on the T.J. Conley-Steve Weatherford punting battle this summer. Weatherford, the incumbent, is going to have his hand’s full. Conley might have been the best punter in last year’s draft process. It was either Conley or SMU’s Thomas Morstead, who was drafted by the New Orleans Saints. Conley signed with the Jets as an undrafted free agent, and was cut in training camp. As we all know, Mike Westhoff doesn’t have much patience with young punters. Clearly he didn’t think Conley was ready for the job.
But the Jets liked him enough to bring him back this off-season, and he looked really good in the spring practices.
One thing you have to remember about Conley’s maturation process. He didn’t become a punter until his junior year at Idaho, so he came to the Jets somewhat raw last summer. But now a year later, he definitely looked more polished in the minicamp. He has a howitzer for a leg.
Conley worked with kicking coach to help him with the mental part of kicking in the NFL.
“[The sports psychologist] helped me a little bit,” said Conley. “You can’t really get into a groove when you’re a punter, so you’ve got to be able to sit on the sideline and not have to worry about, say, if you had a bad punt or something.”
Even though Weatherford is the incumbent, I would say this competition is even entering Cortland.
By the way, Weatherford had another heart procedure this off-season, and he think it should be the last one he needs. He had an irregularity in his heartbeat and remember that caused him to miss the Cincinnati playoff game . . .