Content available exclusively for subscribers
SUNY Cortland – On the menu today – McKnight, Cummings, Pituatoa, Cumberland, Clowney-Coles and a nasty scene between a Jets player and a fan like I’ve never seen in my life . . .
Joe McKnight must be really sore. It seems he takes a big hit in almost every practice. He’s on the skinny side for an NFL running back, so when he’s hit by a linebacker or safety, he feels it. In the morning practice, he was rocked by Kenwin Cummings (who is having a heck of a camp) . . .
Ropati Piuatoa got some starting reps at defensive end in the morning practice. You get the sense the coaches really like the massive Somoan (6-8, 310) who has really developed nicely over the last few years. He’s seems ready to make an impact this season . . .
Tight end Jeff Cumberland continues to make plays. He had a one-handed catch on an out route in the afternoon practice, but the official ruled he had one foot out of bounds. But it was still a heck of a catch. Cumberland is looking like a heck of an undrafted free agent pickup. He’s 6-4, 250 pounds and legitimately runs 4.5. He needs major work on his blocking, but he looks pretty good as a receiver. A big reason he wasn’t drafted was Illinois’ bad quarterback the last couple of years hurting his numbers
He actually got some starting reps in the morning practice. Let’s not get carried away. He’s not going to start, but the fact that the coaches gave him a few first team reps shows you how much they like the guy . . .
There was a really ugly scene towards the end of the morning practice. Kris Jenkins verbally ripped into a Miami Dolphin fan in the crowd watching practice.
I have to be honest, I’ve never seen anything like this at a Jets training camp practice.
The fan didn’t even say anything to provoke Jenkins. The nose tackle saw him wearing a Miami Dolphins jersey (Dan Marino’s #13) and started yelling at the guy.
I’m not going to get into all the nasty things he said to the fan, but his first statement was, “You are wearing a Miami Dolphin jersey – what the fu . . .”
And he went on to question the guy’s manhood including one line referencing the man’s sperm count.
The Jets dodged a major PR bullet on this one. You see, the majority of reporters were watching a drill at the other end of the field. Only three reporters (including this one), witnessed Jenkins’ diatribe.
If the tabloids saw this, it would have been on the back page.
And if anybody caught this on video, it would have been a Youtube sensation.
Deadspin would have done backflips to get a copy of this scene.
I’ve never seen a player rip into a fan to this degree, especially unprovoked, in all my years of covering the Jets . . .
The media is already really wearing out Mark Brunell. Remember he spent most of his career in Jacksonville where they basically have two beat writers. The New York market is quite a departure from Northern Florida.
He actually asked writers for a break today. This was after he had done a long sitdown with SNY.
For a backup quarterback, he’s been absolutely swamped.
And remember, he still has a lot of work to do learning the playbook . . .
David Clowney got a lot of reps in the morning practice as the #3 wide receiver and admitted after the session that the signing of Laveranues Coles really shook him.
“I think it would bother anybody,” said the always honest Clowney. “Did they bring in LC because they thought I wasn’t trustworthy enough?”
Clowney went on to say the only way out of his latest challenge is to go out and have a great camp . . .
It is illegal to republish any of this content on any message board or website. Violators are subject to legal action. It’s also illegal to share passwords. People who do so will have their memberships revoked.
