Content available exclusively for subscribers
Florham Park – In the middle of practice, there were a couple of plays where it seemed like the offense had some pre-snap issues related to lining up properly, and penalties were called by the officials, who were actually real NFL officials today. The real officials visit all the NFL camps throughout the summer for a couple of days and officiate practices. In most practices, the teams uses local officials, like high school and college officials.
I think both penalties were for delay of the game. They don’t announce what flags are for in practice to the media and fans, like in games, but that is what it looked like.
It looked like rookie receiver Omar Cooper might have been unsure of where to line up on each of these plays.
After the first one, I saw veteran WR Isaiah Williams kind of instructing him after the play, and then on the other one – while Geno Smith was under center- the QB and TE Jeremy Ruckert were instructing the receiver to motion to the right side.
Look, Cooper is a smart kid, but he’s a rookie, and NFL playbooks are much more involved than college schemes.
What I’ve never understood is rushing rookies, regardless of the position, into the starting lineup before they are comfortable in the system.
Obviously, Cooper is starting material, but why not limit his role until he has the system down?
Because the problem with putting rookies in the starting lineup too early in camp is that these can be wasted reps for others on plays when the kid isn’t sure what he’s doing.
These two delay-of-game penalties weren’t good reps for the other 10 players.
Look, I can’t sit here and tell you how Cooper is picking up the scheme. I’m not in the meetings. And as I said, he’s very smart and should be fine in time, but on these two plays, it looked like he was unsure, which is totally understandable at this stage of his development.
As you know, I’m never a fan of anointing oil. I’ve never been a fan of putting players right into the lineup because of where they were drafted. There is a confirmation bias element to that thinking.
And memo to the people who talk all the time about who looks good or bad in practice. Without knowing how they are doing mentally, we are not qualified to say that, because we have no idea how they are executing their assignments.
You could see a great catch, but it could have been on a play with mental errors, and it just looked good to the naked eye . . .
It was like history repeating itself.
LB Mykal Walker had a pick of Bailey Zappe basically in the same exact spot as his pick of Cade Klubnik on Thursday. It looked like the same play. It was a pass to a tight end on the right side about 15 yards down-the-field.
It looked like veteran linebacker Demario Davis had a vet rest day today, so the two starting linebackers were Jamien Sherwood and Kiko Mauigoa.
Some would argue these two both need to improve their work in pass coverage. Both struggled in this area last season.
One thing about this camp, you are not seeing a ton of plays in pass coverage from Jets linebackers, so with Walker hauling in picks in back-to-back practices, you have to wonder if he will get some consideration for the starting role next to Davis.
Because the Jets must put a talented coverage linebacker next to Davis in the starting lineup. This shouldn’t even be up for debate . . .
Not only is Isaiah Williams a very good returner and slot receiver, but for a 185-pound wideout, he’s a really good blocker – really gets after it.
On a pitch right to Braelon Allen, Williams had a nice block on safety Andre Cisco. Then on a bubble screen to Cooper, Williams had a nice block on Sherwood on the second level.
The St. Louis native is not only quick as a tick, but tough as boot leather. Sorry for the two cliches in one sentence . . .
There is no doubt the Jets need to consider bringing in a veteran backup. Klubnik is a project, with great raw skills to work with, but tends to lock on his first read. He had a near pick today on a pass to the sideline to Malik McClain where he seemed to look at the receiver the entire time. He must learn to manipulate DBs with his eyes better.
Watching Zappe today, aside from the pick to Walker, he seems have issues driving the ball due to so-so arm talent. There were a couple of PDs in the middle of practice, where the DBs had PDs, and one thing that helped the defenders was the ball not having a lot of zip on it, and taking a while to get there. One was a deep out (a pass that requires good velocity for sure) and the other was a crossing route.
August 7, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Monday.
