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FLORHAM PARK, N.J.- After the defense had the better run on Tuesday at the start of Jets minicamp, the offense returned to the field on Wednesday looking more finely tuned then the day before. During head coach Rex Ryan’s press conference before practice, Chaz Schilens was singled out for his solid play in the first minicamp session and his stock continued to rise. With Stephen Hill and Santonio Holmes both out, Schilens was the go-to receiver and it was clear that he has the long frame to be a possession type receiver. He doesn’t possess that game breaking speed but Schilens has emerged as someone clearly in the mix on third down and in the red zone.
Cut by the Colts last year and then signed before the Jets Week 16 game against the Giants, Dedrick Epps continues to get plenty of snaps at tight end. He might be undersized 6’3, 250 pounds but he runs a good route. Will be watching to see his blocking in training camp but the pass-catching tools are there. It was also a nice day for Josh Baker, who seems to have established a good chemistry with the quarterback’s and is running good routes.
There was a heavy emphasis on special teams at the start of Wednesday’s minicamp and it seems clear that Joe McKnight and Royce Pollard have the inside track on kickoff returns. Pollard still hasn’t shown too much at receiver but he seems to have explosive potential returning kicks, with good feet and even better speed. Still, his technique is raw and he catches the kickoff very high and away from his body – that will have to change if he wants to be effective in December catching kickoffs in the swirling winds of MetLife Stadium.
It has been a very good few weeks for Isaiah Trufant, who was solid in coverage earlier this week and then picked up an onside kick off after it pinged off one of the members on the “hands team.” Trufant clearly can find a ticket to the 53-man roster with his special teams play.
The majority of the kickoff duties were handled by Josh Brown, the former Pro Bowl kicker from the Rams. Nick Folk has been limited the past few weeks due to a left hamstring injury, suffered while running in OTAs. Folk told Jets Confidential that he would rather the injury have been his right leg because he uses his left leg to plant and that puts all his body weight and pressure on the injury. Folk hopes to resume kick off duty on Thursday.
Injured linebacker Bryan Thomas saw more snaps and action on Wednesday, a sign perhaps that he will be ready for training camp. Free agent safety signing LaRon Landry told reporters that he is recovering well from his Achilles injury but he’s uncertain if he will be back in time for training camp.
It appears that running back Shonn Greene is more nimble and light of foot, always a difficult estimation when playing without pads but the fourth year running back seems to be very fluid this year. Greene will never have play-changing speed but he looks a step faster out in the open.
Good to see wide receiver Scotty McKnight continue to make progress each and every day coming off his knee injury. McKnight has fast hands, easily and quickly rising from his
stride to catch passes. He still needs to work on his route running and getting off the line faster but he could make a nice contribution to the offense this year, especially with a thin group of receivers.
After a difficult Tuesday, quarterback Mark Sanchez looked sharper and more capable in the second day of minicamp. Sanchez made smarter decisions with the ball and didn’t force the issue, then again he rarely seems to take shots down the field. After being solid yesterday, it was a so-so day for backup quarterback Tim Tebow. His mechanics look better and his throws are much tighter, but he was picked off once by Julian Posey on a badly thrown pass and several times underthrew his receivers.
Speaking of Tebow, rookie cornerback Ryan Steed had a nice breakup on a Tebow pass to Eron Riley.
It was an all-around solid day from linebacker Nick Bellore, who was an undrafted rookie free agent last year. Bellore looked more comfortable in coverage than we’ve seen before and he was very active in getting into the backfield.
This offseason, Joe McKnight added roughly 10 pounds of muscle to get his weight up to 215 pounds without losing too much speed. McKnight told Jets Confidential that his rookie year, “I weighed 185, maybe 190 pounds” and was roughly 10 percent body fat. Now he is down to eight percent body fat, an impressive gain and balance.
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Kristian R. Dyer is the Jets beat reporter for the newspaper Metro New York. Follow Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer