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Florham Park – A lot going on at Jets camp per usual. Dan checks in with a stocking full of Jets notes from One Jets Drive. Let’s get it under way . . .
Jeff Cumberland continues to impress.
Early in practice today, he blew past safety Josh Bush down the left seam, by about five yards, and caught a deep pass from Mark Sanchez.
I’m telling you, the Jets have a poor man’s Antonio Gates in this guy.
He is really starting to come into his own as a tight end, both as a blocker and receiver. Remember, he was mostly a wide receiver at Illinois, so this tight end thing was going to take a while. Now he seems totally comfortable in the skin of a tight end.
His blocking has improved immeasurably and he still gets down field like a wide receiver.
This guy was a great find by the Jets scouting department. Jessie Kaye did a nice job as a regional scout on this one.
He had a non-descript career in college, so he was a little under the radar . . .
The Jets played Donnie Fletcher quite a bit at safety this summer, and toyed with the idea of moving him there permanently, but now he’s strictly playing corner.
The reason safety was a possibility for Fletcher is because of his borderline cornerback speed . .
Speaking of cornerback, I have to admit I was wrong floating the idea that Ellis Lankster should leapfrog Kyle Wilson on the depth chart. That was a bad take.
Lankster makes too many mental errors, like on Wes Welker’s touchdown catch on Thursday night . If you are covering Welker, you don’t leave him under any circumstances, even if Tom Brady’s eyes go to the opposite side of the field. He strayed away from Welker, and that is a no-no . . .
I asked Sione Pouha about the current state of his back, and answered – “functional.” . . .
I don’t want to write too much about the guy because he could be gone next week the way things work, but new practice squad receiver Eddie McGee certainly looks the part – 6-4, 210 pounds and runs well.
And I can tell you one thing from first-hand experience – he has huge hands. I shook the hand today, and his hand engulfed mine. Obviously huge hands are very helpful at the wide receiver position.
Cumberland, who played with him at Illinois, said the former quarterback (first two years at Illinois) has great hands and good hand-eye coordination . . .
Since the last time I talked to Mardy Gilyard over a year ago (when he was with the Jets last September), he seems like he’s matured.
He’s also improved his route-running and understands defenses better.
Aside from working at receiver today, he also got some work as a kick returner. He was excellent kick return at the University of Cincinnati . . .
It doesn’t look good for CB Aaron Berry (quad) this week. He didn’t practice and I saw him hobbling as he left the locker room . . .
The Jets front office is very upset with the New York Post hatchet job on Woody Johnson today. Brian Costello destroyed the Jets owner, even suggesting the fans should send their tickets back to Johnson, and published the Jets address in his column.
I feel terrible for Jets PR director Bruce Speight, who is a good man – he might have the most difficult job in the NFL. The media loves trashing the Jets. It’s like sport to them. I’m sure the owner comes to him after these kind of stories saying – “What is up with this?”
The Jets need to come up with a better strategy to tame the tabloids. What they are doing now isn’t working . . .
This Tim Tebow situation is bizarre. He practiced on a limited basis today, and his ribs don’t seem to be much better than last week, so why would he play this week?
But if the Jets deactivate him, they are admitting they made a mistake last week.
The media is trashing them to such a degree you sense they don’t want to give them any more fuel.
I think the answer here might be to have both Tebow and McElroy active.
Look at the photo above at Tebow’s locker (above) – this is a backup quarterback who hardly plays. Look at the throng around him. Bizarre.
This is one weird season.
November 28, 2012
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