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Can you really say this at this point?
“I don’t see them drafting a safety. Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye are two of their foundation pieces,” wrote Brian Costello in the New York Post.
Obviously that is the case with Adams, but it’s hard to go there with Maye right now.
What I’m about to write isn’t a rip on Costello. I think most people share his worldview of the Jets’ safety situation.
After all, the Jets picked Adams and Maye in the first and second rounds of the 2017 draft with the plan being for them to start next to each other for many years.
But Maye has durability issues.
This isn’t his fault. I hate when people blame players for getting hurt, like the somehow they want that to happen.
Many of us have been injured playing sports. It happens.
So I’m not blaming Maye for getting hurt a lot, just dealing with the reality of the situation.
Yes, he played in all 16 games as a rookie in 2017, but after that season he needed ankle surgery, and missed the entire 2018 off-season program.
2018 was a medical nightmare for Maye.
First, it started with the aforementioned ankle surgery right after his rookie season.
Last year, it wasn’t one thing, but a variety of maladies.
After getting over the ankle, he hurt his foot in training camp. Then he broke his thumb in Week Six, leading to a missed game, and then hurt his shoulder, and had surgery in early December ending his season. The foot injury in training camp led Maye to miss the first couple of games of the season.
When the Jets drafted Maye out of Florida, he was still recovering from a broken arm that ended his last year for the Gators prematurely.
Arm, ankle, foot, thumb and shoulder injuries over the last couple of years.
Safety is a brutal position. So many safeties don’t even make it to their second NFL contract, following their rookie deals.
Look at Doug Middleton who actually filled in for Maye at the beginning of last season. He’s had each of the last two seasons end prematurely by torn pectoral muscles on his arms.
I could list a bunch of safeties that just got ravaged by injuries, derailing their careers, like Jaiquawn Jarrett, who played for the Jets from 2013-15, but myriad injuries ended his NFL career. Promising safety Dion Bailey played for the Jets in 2015, and he couldn’t stay healthy and hasn’t played since.
I try to live in the reality world, not the perception world.
Of course, most people looking at the Jets’ safety situation, would assume that Adams and Maye are locks to start.
I can’t go there right now.
Adams yes. Maye (who happens to be a great guy) no.
And injuries are the reason why.
So right now, to me, that position is wide open, with Middleton (who also needs to show he can stay healthy), sleeper Brandon Bryant (signed after the supplemental draft last year out of Mississippi State) and former corner Jeremy Clark are also in the mix.
They could also pick a safety who might be thrown into the competition.
April 15, 2019
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