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It’s a really smart approach.
Today, they signed a pair of capable young veterans – LB Kevin Minter and WR Charles Johnson. The Jets are using their significant cap space wisely, not just by signing starters like Trumaine Johnson, Mo Claiborne, Ike Crowell, Josh McCown and Spencer Long, but they have quietly added a lot of quality young veterans who could give them top-shelf depth in 2018.
You often see teams going cheap and young with some of their depth due to cap issues, so when they get injuries, they often have to force young guys into action who might not be ready, and it hurts the team.
The Jets have the cap space to load up on capable experienced backups. Also keep in mind they don’t have those two second rounds picks they previously owned. Those players would have been locks for two of their 53 roster spots. So those two spots can go to vets, who can do the requisite job incase of injuries.
Minter played for Todd Bowles in Arizona his first two years in the league in 2013-14, so he knows his defensive system.
Minter is a starting quality inside linebacker on the NFL level. His last two years in Arizona (2015-16) he started all 16 games. He started over the first half of last year in Cincinnati, before a hamstring injury ended his season.
The former Auburn star an instinctive player, with a low center of gravity (he gets under blockers) who makes a lot of tackles. He knows what he’s doing out there. If given the chance, on an even playing field, he has the ability to beat out Darren Lee for a starting job. I’m not saying he will be given that chance due to the political nature of things – I’m just saying if given the chance, he could do it.
But keep something else in mind about the Jets inside linebacker situation. At first glance, some might wonder why the Jets would sign Minter, when they have already have Lee, Avery Williamson, Kevin Pierre-Louis and Neville Hewitt. You could make a strong argument, that barring injury, they were set with Lee, Williamson, Pierre-Louis and Newitt as their two-deep at ILB. But keep in mind, Pierre-Louis is likely facing a four-game suspension for a January arrest in Kansas City for pot possession, drug paraphernalia and not having a valid driver’s license. He could be out the first four games, so the Jets will need another ILB for at least the first month.
Johnson is an underrated receiver, who did some decent good with Jets backup QB Teddy Bridgewater in Minnesota from 2014-16.
That work helped land him a free agent contract with Carolina last off-season, but he blew out his knee in the summer, and never played for the Panthers. He’s now healthy. He is a big receiver (6-2, 217) who ran a 4.39 forty when he came out o Grand Valley State, a great time for a wideout his size. He’s a good fit for the Jets’ West Coast offense.
The Jets need to make the playoffs in 2018 after missing the second-season seven straight years. Having a ton of veteran backups, aka quality depth, will help their cause, in an injury-laden league.
April 9, 2018
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