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It looks like Joe Douglas landed a real nice undrafted free agent
in 2020, with Memphis DE Bryce Huff.
He’s flashed all summer in camp, and had two sacks in the Jets’ 2021 preseason opener against the Football Giants. While the Giants were playing a lot of backups, his first sack, to end the Giants initial possession, came against a right tackle, who started games for the Giants last year, and will likely start this year, UConn’s Matt Peart. And his second sack, late in the game, came against Auburn’s Chad Slade, who is 29-years-old, and has been bouncing around the leagues since 2015.
So it’s not like he was going against some raw rookie free agents and beating them.
In today’s practice, Huff beat veteran right tackle Morgan Moses off the edge to get a QB pressure on Josh Johnson.
What Huff does so well is he bends the edge. He has the flexibility to dip under tall offensive tackles and maintain his balance, which many ends can’t do.
With Vinny Curry out until at least Week Two with an undisclosed injury, expect Huff to play a lot early in the season. While John Franklin-Myers is probably the starting end for Curry opposite Carl Lawson, Franklin-Myers often does his best work pass rushing on the interior, like today, when he beat guard Dan Feeney for a QB pressure on Johnson. So even if Franklin-Myers starts at end, expect him to move inside a lot allowing Huff to get quality minutes at end.
This was a heck of a UDFA signing by Douglas . . .
I shot a video today for Twitter, and it showed the Jets’ offensive linemen running to a drill to start practice. Bringing up the rear as they ran to the drill was Moses. He was lagging behind a little, and didn’t look right. Later in practice, I noticed he was wearing a medical compression sleeve on his right leg.
He didn’t miss any practice, but might be dealing with something. But don’t expect him to miss time. With the Washington Football Team, he was known as a guy who always played hurt, not wanting to let his teammates down. This guy rarely misses the bell . . .
Speaking of Moses, he had a nice block today on a run off right tackle by Tevin Coleman. On this play, he locked by linebacker Hamsah Nasrildeen. And this play is illustrative of the issue sometimes when using undersized linebackers. While they can help you with their range in pass coverage, if offensive linemen get their mitts on small linebackers, it can be tough for them to stack-and-shed. Moses outweighs Nasrildeen by 100 pounds.
But nonetheless, the Jets love Nasrildeen, who is a leading candidate to start at outside linebacker . . .
For the last week, DE Ronnie Blair has been in the rehab area, which isn’t a good thing since he missed last year after re-injuring a knee he hurt in 2019.
But watching Blair working in the rehab area, he doesn’t look like he’s dealing with a knee. He was working on pass rush moves and his get-off, two things he probably wouldn’t be doing if it’s a knee issue.
My guess is that he’s on a training camp pitch count coming off a knee. He knows Saleh’s system from their time together in San Francisco, and Saleh loves the player, so there is no need to wear him out in training camp . . .
Speaking of players the Jets don’t want to wear out in training camp, Sheldon Rankins, who had some injury issues with the New Orleans Saints, is definitely on a pitch count in camp, but when he get reps, he’s flashed the impressive quickness into gaps that made him a first-round pick.
Like today when he beat center Jimmy Murray for a QB pressure . . .
Watching Zach Wilson in his first preseason game, today in practice, and throughout camp, what do I think of him?
While it’s too early to definitely tell what the Jets have, especially since he played against Giants backups, my sense, from watching him in the spring and summer, is that it’s unlikely, barring injury issues, he will be a bust. Now I’m not saying he’s going to be a star. Too early to have a clue about that, but just watching him operate, I think his floor could be perhaps as a solid NFL starter, like an Andy Dalton-type. Not saying he’s going to be Dalton (whose been to the playoffs four times), just saying my sense is that could be his floor.
August 16, 2021
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