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TE Stone Smartt has had a strong camp, but continues to be victimized by limited reps.
I can’t remember a meaningful rep for him today.
Not sure what is going on here, but it seems a little unfair based on how he’s performed.
What is going on here? . . .
Speaking of tight ends, you have to give tight end Zack Kuntz credit. A tireless worker, his first couple of camps, his hands were a little inconsistent, but this summer, he’s caught the ball much more consistently. While it might be hard for him to make the regular roster, he could be headed back to the practice squad.
Today, he caught a nice fade on the left side of the end zone from Brady Cook. At 6-8, he can be quite a weapon on a play like this . . .
Not sure what the Jets are going to do with wide receiver Malachi Corley, who has had kind of a quiet summer, but in his defense, he hardly gets any reps.
Today, he had one of the better catches in practice, on a deep out on the right side from Cook . . .
Jermaine Johnson returned to practice today, and while his reps were limited as they ease him into things, he had a very nice play where he got to Justin Fields, and knocked the ball out of his hand as he was setting up to throw . . .
Fields needs to work on throwing screens or swing passes with more accuracy. He short-hopped one to Garrett Wilson against the Giants, and today, he threw a pass to Mason Taylor, a screen-type pass, and it was low. The tight end caught it, but having to reach down for it, hurt his ability to run after the catch . . .
WR Brandon Smith continues to impress.
With long-shot receivers, you need to have a near-perfect camp to hang around, like Wayne Chrebet did many years ago, and that is the kind of camp Smith is having, catching everything in sight.
There is a lot to like about him, and one of those things is how strong his hands are, and how good he is catching the ball in traffic – he is superb on contested passes. This is something that Garrett Wilson needs a little work on – contested passes.
One reason Smith has bounced around the last few years, in different NFL camps and the XFL, is he played college football at Iowa, not exactly a wide receiver factory, but more a ground-and-pound program, so he didn’t catch a ton of passes there.
But clearly, this guy has a lot of talent, and unless he goes off the rails in practice this week, and in the third preseason game, it would be shocking if he doesn’t make the team . . .
Watching Arian Smith in camp, I’d like to see a highlight (or lowlight) reel of his reported 10 drops at Georgia last year.
I just don’t see a guy who has a hand’s issue.
Does he catch every pass? No, but he catches a lot more than he drops, and he just doesn’t seem to have a major issue in this area.
While he’s a hard-worker, who lives at the JUGS Machine, I just have a hard time believing that he all of a sudden became a player with good hands, if he supposedly didn’t have them last year.
I think sometimes these analytics sites that publish drop stats grade players too hard on drops.
I often hear game announcers, or other reporters in the press box, say a player “dropped” a pass, and I don’t view it as a drop, based on the circumstances.
I’d love to see a clip package of his 10 drops, because the player I’ve been watching this summer doesn’t fit the description as a guy who hands issues . . .
Cornerback Bump Cooper, who has done some nice things in camp since being claimed on waivers from the Miami Dolphins, was not in uniform today, out with some kind of injury. He had a compression sleeve on his right leg . . .
While I refuse to harshly criticize Fields because he’s no different than he was in the past, SiriusXM NFL Radio analyst Pat Kirwan, who was at camp today, feels he needs to get rid of the ball faster and suggested the Jets use a buzzer in practice that would go off if he’s holding the ball to long, like for four seconds.
August 19, 2025
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