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Late in practice, in a red zone drill, center Joe Tippmann had a high shotgun snap (he still needs to iron this out) to Aaron Rodgers. The quarterback reached up, grabbed it, and hit wide Allen Lazard for a touchdown.
I will say it before, and I will say it again – nothing wrong with Lazard that a little Aaron Rodgers returning couldn’t fix.
In the NFL, quarterbacks make receivers, receivers don’t make quarterbacks, and the Jets were quarterback challenged last season . . .
This longshot QB Andrew Peasley sees the field well for a rookie.
He does a nice job of going through his progressions.
He’s not a one-read QB like you often see with young guys.
His problem is that he will probably never be allowed to beat out Jordan Travis, once Travis is healthy, but Peasley has ability . . .
Over a short stretch in practice, you saw why the Jets signed massive defensive tackles Javon Kinlaw and Leki Fotu.
Kinlaw overwhelmed offensive guard Wes Schweitzer, and stopped running back Braelon Allen in the backfield. Then a few plays later, Fotu stopped running back Isaiah Davis in the backfield.
Both these guys have great length and power and can overwhelm athletically challenged interior linemen.
These two signings were very important and aren’t getting the attention they deserve. Why aren’t they getting the attention they deserve? Because most of the media and fans think the Jets had a great defense last year. However they didn’t. You can’t have a great defense when you aren’t good at stopping the run.
For some reason, the Jets’ substandard run defense last year was ignored.
These two guys will help fix a big problem for the Jets last year – getting gashed up the middle against the run due to having undersized defensive tackles getting velcroed to blockers.
And we saw this problem rear its ugly head during this practice when they went with two smaller defensive tackles, and Izzy Abanikanda shot into a big hole up the middle for a long run . . .
There were no officials at Jets practice the first two days, so some guys have been getting away with penalties, like on a long run off right tackle by running back Tarik Cohen. The defensive end on that side, Will McDonald, got held by tight end Lincoln Sefcik.
Rodgers threw a beautiful deep pass down the right side and Garrett Wilson couldn’t come down with it, but he was interfered with by cornerback D.J. Reed.
The Jets will probably have officials at camp at some point, but not now . . .
Like we mentioned yesterday, Michael Clemons is a better fit for the 3-4 end position.
Today, on three straight Aaron Rodgers completions, to Breece Hall, Tyler Conklin and Garrett Wilson, Clemons was rushing over right tackle Max Mitchell, and ran right into him on all three plays, and Mitchell handled him.
How often will you win as an edge-rusher running right into the middle of the blocker’s body?
Clemons is a better fit in a 3-4 defense as a two-gapping end.
Surely most scouts would agree.
He’s a power player who doesn’t have the quick twitch or bend to take the corner . . .
Quan’tez Stiggers had his second pick in two days.
This one was on a deep pass from QB Tyrod Taylor to receiver Malik Taylor.
The pass was overthrown, but Stiggers showed good hand-eye coordination making kind of Willie Mays catch . . .
DE Jermaine Johnson (pictured above) is in tremendous shape. He’s thick and powerful to handle the run, but has maintained his speed and twitch to rush the passer.
He could be poised for a big season.
If you were to build an end in the lab, he would look like this guy.
July 25, 2024
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