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The Jets’ issue here is shared by a lot teams . . .
They have concerns at cornerback. Welcome to the club!
“There is a shortage of corners,” NFL Hall-of-Famer Gil Brandt told me on Saturday.
It’s so true.
The Jets have concerns at that position, but so does most of the league.
The Jets released CB Dee Delaney today. He was a guy they claimed recently as they shuffle guys in and out of the building at the position. It’s like a bus station in the Jets’ cornerback room with guys coming in and out. Delaney got beat for a TD in the Jets’ preseason loss to New Orleans. He’s a big corner with pedestrian speed and it showed on the TD.
Speaking of big corners with pedestrian speed, remember cornerback Juston Burris, a 2016 fourth-round pick of the Jets? I wrote until I was blue in the face that the Jets should move him to safety with his size and hitting-ability combined with his lack of ideal speed and stiff hips. Well guess what. He’s on Cleveland now and he’s playing safety. I’m not patting myself on the back for this. It was just common sense.
Getting back to the Jets’ current cornerback situation. Expect a couple of corners to be claimed on the final cut down. Joe Douglas knows this position is a big question mark for his team.
But you know what, he has plenty of company around the league . . .
For astute Jets fans, Thursday night’s preseason game should be must-watch TV.
Say what? The fourth preseason game, which will be a thing of the past in a couple of years when the new CBA deal is signed, is usually flat-out brutal football to watch.
But this particular match-up should intrigue Jets fans. Why?
Because they are playing the Philadelphia Eagles. Douglas spent the last three years in the Eagles’ front office, and was with them through most of the off-season player personnel process in 2019, leaving in early June. He was very involved in stocking their 90-man roster this off-season. He knows that roster as well as he knows the Jets’ current roster.
Who plays in the fourth preseason? Backup players – second-stringers, third-stringers and so forth. Which players are going are going to be cut on Saturday – a lot of these players. Don’t assume all players who are cut are bad. Not true. A lot of times teams release guys they don’t want to, but when it comes to getting down to 53, they have no choice but to move on from a few players reluctantly. Douglas will know who the Eagles are reluctantly cutting more than anyone else in the league. He was in a ton of personnel meetings in the spring talking to GM Howie Roseman and company about most of these guys.
So to me, while the fourth preseason game can be brutal, with this Jets’ opponent, considering where their GM came from, should make this game a little more interesting for Jets fans . . .
While the Jets won’t play their starters against Philly, you have to wonder how they will handle Quinnen Williams, who’s been playing a lot with the #2’s this summer, but was the third pick overall.
Will they play him on Thursday? He needs the work, especially against the run. He’s a heck of an interior pass rusher, but I’ve noticed he’s had issues on a few running plays up the middle where he got engulfed by offensive linemen, like on the play in the photo above. Remember, he’s not a huge guy. Perhaps he needs to get a little bigger and stronger to help him against the run.
August 26, 2019
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