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Sometimes we forget . . .
how young some of these guys are.
We look at them as professional football players, so demand they get the job done because they’re getting paid.
But a lot of these are super-young and need work. Playing in the NFL isn’t easy – the mental and physical challenges are significant. Some guys are “instant coffee” and some aren’t.
After a practice where Sam Darnold wasn’t happy with his performance, Adam Gase told the media he said to Darnold, “I told him, he’s 22 years old.”
This applies to a few Jets young player who need a lot of work, especially since the team is putting in new offensive and defensive systems in 2019.
New systems being installed is far from ideal for any player, but especially young players like young cornerback Parry Nickerson. He’s a perfect example. He was kind of inconsistent this spring, which is kind of understandable – being in his third defense in three years (Tulane’s defense, Todd Bowles’ defense and now Gregg Williams’ defense).
Defensive linemen Nate Shepherd and Foley Fatukasi are also learning their second system in two years and kind of had quiet springs. Totally understandable.
Nickerson, Shepherd and Fatukasi are reserve players, so perhaps it’s not a big deal, but young safety Marcus Maye missing the entire spring wasn’t a good thing for the Jets.
Yes, he did a little work in position drills, but when the Jets went to the “team” part of practice, where it’s offense vs. defense, 11-on-11, he wasn’t out there. In his place next to Jamal Adams was either Rontez Miles or Doug Middleton.
Maye is coming off shoulder surgery, so they didn’t want him hitting the ground.
“He [was] anxious to get out there and do some stuff,” Gase said a few weeks ago. “That’s why we basically said, ‘We’ll put you in the red, but we cannot have you falling on the ground.’ We do feel like things are lined up to where we should be ready to go by training camp.”
Maye is just in his third year, and with Williams installing a new system, that has a lot of complexities, it would have been great for the Jets if he was out there in the spring lining up next to Adams getting on the same page. There was a lot of communication going on between defensive backs before the snap, getting everyone lined up right, and he missed that. He was out there, but he wasn’t in the live action.
He’s very bright, but nothing beats working with your teammates on the field as a new system is being installed.
And let’s not forget while he’s in his third season, he missed 10 games last year due to injuries, so he’s started a total of 22 games in the NFL.
He’s not a fully established NFL player. He needs the work. People talk about the Adams/Maye combo like it’s an established dynamic duo.
Adams is outstanding, but I couldn’t sit here right now and tell you that I know exactly who Maye is as a player. I think we are still finding that out.
Perhaps the silver-lining to Maye being out was having Miles and Middleton getting so many reps in the spring, so if something happens to Maye, they would be more ready to go.
Hey, I understand that the Jets were being careful with Maye coming off shoulder surgery. That was smart.
I’m just saying this isn’t a fully-established veteran safety who has it all figured out.
He’s still developing and has a lot of work to do.
So sitting in the spring, even though it might have been smart from a medical standpoint, set-up him back a little.
Some people act like the spring doesn’t matter and it’s voluntary.
For young players it matters.
Especially ones learning new systems.
June 26, 2019
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