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Two young Jets offensive, tackles Olu Fashanu and Carter Warren, were in walking boots today in the locker room.
Fashanu on his left foot and Warren on his right.
Fashanu has plantar fasciitis and Warren has an ankle injury . . .
If you were going to take a vote in the Jets locker room for everybody’s favorite teammate, a guy who would get a lot of votes is undrafted rookie free agent safety Jarius Monroe. Everybody loves this guy, who has a zest for life and football, and walks around with a perpetual smile.
Aaron Rodgers brought him up twice out of the blue in press conferences this season, and Davante Adams did the same today.
It’s hard to explain without being in a room with him, but this guy emanates joy and people love being around him.
“He loves football,” said former Tulane coach Willie Fritz now at Houston. “He loves to practice, and he’s got genuine enthusiasm.”
Monroe spent his senior year at Tulane, after playing three years at I-AA Nichols State.
Monroe spent most of this season on the Jets practice squad before being promoted to the regular roster on December 24.
In a world filled with so much negativity, we need more Jarius Monroe’s . . .
Woody Johnson spoke briefly after the game on Sunday on his way out of the locker room.
This was about it before he was led away:
“We ended up well. I don’t care about anything else, but a win at the end was good. They played well and never gave up.” – Woody Johnson.
Some people might not love this quote, but I don’t think he meant any harm by it. He just has an eclectic way of phrasing things. He clearly cared about what went on before this game, because he fired the head coach and then the GM in-season.
Johnson was brief with reporters coming out of the locker room because I don’t think this was a scheduled press briefing. He just stopped for a second before boarding a golf cart to leave the stadium.
However, he did sit down with New York Post writer Brian Costell for a longer interview and said two things that really stood out to me.
We touched on this yesterday. I had heard he was intent on letting the new GM and coach decide Aaron Rodgers’ future, and he confirmed that to Costello.
“That’s going to be up to the coach,” Johnson said. “The coach will have to decide what the quarterback situation is. That’s going to be a very important job for the general manager and the coach.”
Jets fans should be ecstatic about this. Let the football people make football decisions, and speaking of football people, he made it clear he lost faith in the previous GM and coach when he said to Costello: “We knew exactly what was going to happen with the regime that was in.”
That is a very profound quote. Basically he was saying that the former GM and coach had showed him exactly who they were, and things weren’t going to change.
A lack of accountability seemed to be at the tip of the spear . . .
You don’t need to be a close friend of Mike Vrable to know he has an eye on the New England job. A few days ago he changed his picture on X to an action shot of him in a Patriots uniform. Vrable is a former Patriots linebacker.
Robert Kraft firing Mayo after one season clears the way for Vrable to land that job.
But don’t expect it to happen immediately, aside from the Rooney rule, Vrable and his agent could drag this out a little to get what they want in terms of money and power, and use other suitors as leverage.
The Jets have to discern whether Vrable is legitimately interested in their coaching job, after he interviewed with them last week. Or was he just using them as leverage against New England? If they feel he’s using them as leverage, they clearly need to drop the pursuit of the coach . . .
A little surprised to see the Jets are going to interview Houston offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik for their head coaching job. The Texans offense was underwhelming this year.
Sometimes it feels like media insiders draw up these lists of who you should interview.
It’s best to think outside the box on this stuff, and not interview the obvious suspects.
January 6, 2024
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