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It’s time for a heaping helping of Dan Leberfeld’s Website Whispers. Just the good stuff. Totally different content than our magazine . . . The Jets should seriously consider signing a couple of UFL players, but it will cost them . . .
Rex Ryan can defend his pass rush all he wants, but it’s a big problem. Why do you think they need to blitz so much?
There are a couple of players from the UFL who could help, two 3-4 OLB types – Patrick Chukwurah and Eric Henderson.
These were the two best pass rushers in the league.
While playing for the Henderson set a Georgia Tech record with 59.5 TFL’s and had 25 sacks.
The Jets can’t keep rolling out the same players and expect a different result. it’s not working.
Another player who could help the Jets at their nickel or dime spot is league MVP, cornerback Isaiah Trufant. He was outstanding. Isiah is the brother of Seattle cornerback Marcus Trufant.
But here is the catch. In order to sign any of these players, an NFL team would have to pay a $150,000 transfer fee.
The Giants just paid the fee to sign wide receiver Michael Clayton.
Would the Jets spend that kind of money? I’m not sure. There is some belt-tightening going in with the impending lockout.
Henderson might be a better choice over Chukwurah because he’s much younger (31 to 27). The Jets probably don’t need to add any more players over 30. They are starting to get a little old in the Front Seven, and that is part of the problem.
The level of competition is pretty good in the UFL, and smart NFL teams are going to pay the $150,000 to add some of these talented game-ready players . . .
The Jets coverage of opposing tight ends has been an embarrassment. I get the sense they are going to stop messing around with this mix-and-match stuff, and will start letting Brodney Pool follow around tight ends. Pool, at 6-2, 218 pounds with 4.6 speed, is a good matchup physically and speed-wise, with talented opposing tight ends. I have a feeling you are going to see Pool on Cincinnati’s Jermaine Gresham, the Bengals 2010 first round pick, quite a bit on Thursday . . .
I get the sense that Eric Smith is playing hurt. He’s just not running as well as he can. We do know he has some kind of ankle issue. That was announced this week. For him to be trailing behind Joel Dreessen so badly makes little sense. Dreessen has okay speed, but is no speed merchant . . .
I saw Jim Leonhard having a long talk with assistant secondary coach Jim O’Neil on the practice field on Monday. You get the sense that Leonhard, who rarely blows assignments, is getting tired of the Keystone Cops routine when it comes to safety and nickel and dime play. With a pair of cornerbacks as good as Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, this other stuff shouldn’t be happening. The hardest thing to find are shutdown corners. The Jets have two of them. The other positions should be gravy compared to shutting down the other team’s top two receivers . . .
A guy who could help the Jets a great deal in coverage now, or in the future , is linebacker Josh Mauga. He looked very good in coverage in training camp, and is more mobile than any of the Jets current starting linebackers.
