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Cortland – The Jets first day of practice is in the books, and Dan checks in with a heaping helping of the good stuff from Central New York
There was all this talk in the spring of Dawan Landry losing his starting job to Calvin Pryor.
Not so fast. Throughout the first practice of training camp today, the Jets’ starting safeties were Dawan Landry and Antonio Allen. Obviously Pryor is going to have a big role this year, but it was premature to anoint him as a starter before he learns the system, and gets a feel for the NFL.
And plus, the Jets love Allen, and see him as player whose arrow is pointing up.
This guy is a good football player, who was flying around making plays today. Allen is a terrific run defender, and tackler in general, who has taken a quantum leap as a cover guy with the Jets over the last two years, after being used mainly as a box safety at South Carolina.
The bottom line is all three will play a lot . . .
Within minutes in a 7-on-7 drill (a passing drill between offense and defense with no line play), Geno Smith threw two interceptions to linebacker Nick Bellore and S Brandon Hardin.
He also threw a pass into triple coverage to Jeremy Kerley. It was off-target, and there were three defensive backs in the area – Calvin Pryor, Kyle Wilson and Dawan Landry. He is lucky it wasn’t picked off. He did a poor job of manipulating the safeties with his eyes on this play.
As I was driving up to Jets camp yesterday, I passed a sign on the highway in New Jersey for an amusement park called, “The Land of Make Believe.”
If that is where some of the Jets’ brass and media want to hang out when it comes to Smith, that is their deal. I’m going to tell you guys exactly what I see.
And I see a player who has a lot of work to do, especially when it comes to reading defenses, which from what I saw today, is still an area of weakness. Smith could be terrific in time, but based on what I’m seeing, he’s still a major work-in-progress.
To be fair, Mike Vick wasn’t much better today . . .
With all the talk about Chris Ivory and Chris Johnson, two terrific players, Bilal Powell is kind of getting lost in the shuffle.
But the Jets have no intent on burying this guy on the depth chart, or keeping him on the bench.
In fact, today, Powell was the workhorse back in practice, getting most of the carries.
Granted, the Jets are being somewhat careful with Ivory, who tweaked a hamstring in mini-camp, and Johnson, coming off a knee scope early this off-season, but the Jets value Powell, and still intend on him being a part of the offense, regardless of who else is on the roster . . .
It looks like Jeremiah George lost weight. He looks slimmer. That might sound like a good thing, but he’s already undersized for a 3-4 ILB at 5-11, 234. He looks smaller than that now. He played at Iowa State at 5-11, 219.
Now a lower weight will help him in kick and punt coverage, which will be his job this year, but if he has to play at ILB, he could have a really hard time shedding and stacking as a 3-4 ILB at his current size . . .
After a pass play today, WR Jacoby Ford was hobbling.
Ford is a very talented player with world class speed, but you just wonder if he can stay healthy, which was a big problem in Oakland the last two years . . .
Nick Bellore looks like he’s ready to emerge as an NFL ILB. Aside from the aformentioned pick, he also had a sack on a blitz. Bellore has terrific instincts, and consistently around the ball. He’s also very good at working through the trash to make plays . . .
July 24, 2014
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