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It’s sodium pentothal time when talking about the Jets’ defense . . .
Recently, Jets defensive coordinator Kacy Rodgers addressed the media. It was the first time since late last season. He answered various questions about defensive personnel. This week, I’m going to run some of his answers, and then respond with blunt honesty, which he can’t do. He’s a good man, a very decent man, but when you are in his position, you can’t given very frank answers about your players. For the most part, his hands are tied when it comes to player personnel – Mike Maccagnan picks the players, and Todd Bowles decides who plays. Rodgers has to go with the hand he’s dealt, and he’s not going to throw these players under the bus.
But nonetheless, I’m going to answer the questions like a coordinator on sodium pentothal.
Q)How much has the secondary improved from last season?
Kacy Rodgers – Jets defensive coordinator: You know it’s really, really hard to say, but I just look at the guys we got out here working now and so far we are very pleased with them. Really, we have some talent in that group.
Dan Leberfeld: I agree with “it’s really, really hard to say” right now. You can only tell so much from the spring, and they only had one of their starting cornerbacks on the field, Trumaine Johnson. The other starting cornerback is Morris Claiborne, who we didn’t see practicing this off-season because he’s injured again. He had a cast on his left wrist. Last year he was dealing with a foot injury over the second half of the season, which kept him out of a game, and made him come out of the Tampa Bay game prematurely. He hurt the foot against Atlanta, so he had to come out of that game early, and he struggled in Denver, perhaps due to the foot. So he missed one game, parts of two others, and struggled badly in another.
In his five years in Dallas, he missed 35 games due to injuries.
Then last year he had the foot, and this spring the wrist.
So as of right now, this was a bad re-signing. One, because when an injury-prone player gets hurts, in the spring, right after you re-sign for good money, that’s far from ideal. And considering he has missed so many games in his career, perhaps his $7 million salary this year is a case of largesse.
This is a similar thing to what I said about Terrelle Pryor. He was coming off ankle surgery, and he re-injured the ankle right after he arrived, so that isn’t a great signing.
Look, Claiborne and Pryor could turn out to have terrific seasons, but isn’t is fair for me to sit here right now and say each move is dubious considering both players broke down in the spring?
Claiborne is a skillful cornerback, but he’s a house of cards physically. And
I want to make it clear, I’m not one of these people that blame the person for getting hurt. It’s usually out of their control.
If Claiborne can break his injury trend this year, and stay on the field, he can help the Jets a great deal. He has great speed, loose hips (to change direction) and a lot of experience. Let’s not forget this guy was the sixth pick overall in the 2012 draft by Dallas.
The Claiborne/Trumaine Johnson could be one of the Jets better CB combos in recent years.
After that, there are a lot of questions marks. Buster Skrine will be the nickel back because he’s beyond reproach, but he commits too many penalties and is often a tick late reacting a receiver’s route. His eyes are inconsistent as they say in the scouting world. Terrific person, and tough as boot leather as a tackler, in run support, on special teams and as a blitzer, but often a liability in coverage. But the Jets give him unconditional love, which is rare in football. Hey, coming off three subpar seasons he didn’t even have to take a paycut. That says it all. They love this guy.
“[Buster] had an outstanding season (in 2017),” Jets secondary coach Dennard Wilson said recently with a straight face.
As for the safety, I think both starters will have top-shelf seasons. Jamal Adams had a standout spring and while Marcus Maye didn’t practice this spring due to ankle surgery, both of these guys should take a quantum leap in Year Two after their trial by fire last year starting as rookies.
June 25, 2018
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