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FLORHAM PARK, N.J. – One of the big stories emerging from Jets camp on Friday was the play of right tackle Robert Griffin, who was physically imposing on the offensive line and looked like a man among boys.
But slightly over to his side was Anthony Parker, a tryout player out of Western Michigan. Parker is raw but at 6’5 and 321 lbs. moves very well and looks to be a guard at the next level.
In fact, Griffin was raving about the play of Parker yesterday and Parker stepped up to the plate again on Saturday morning.
“It’s going great, playing next to a guy like Robert Griffin. A smart, physical guy like him,” Parker told JetsConfidential.com.
“We communicate very well.”
There were lots of good things from Parker, who perhaps showed enough to warrant an invite to mini-camp. He’s hearing praise from the vocal coaching staff.
“Little things, small things like ‘Good job’ and I know they try to motivate you through practice but hearing things like that, like ‘Good hands’ it motivates you,” Parker said.
“It takes you a long way.”
First round pick Quinton Coples was held out of team drills for what he termed a “Coach’s decision”…Conventional wisdom holds that all the draft picks will head to mini-camp along with probably 10 undrafted free agents and maybe two tryout players…
There was a Woody Johnson sighting at the team’s practice facility as the Jets owner caught the final half of practice and spent a good portion of time chatting with general manager Mike Tannenbaum and head coach Rex Ryan. Johnson had a roster in his hands and was checking it regularly to put a name to the number when a rookie made a play – or didn’t…
Seventh round pick Antonio Allen has stood out through two days. The safety out of South Carolina moves well and has good size. Defensive coordinator Mike Pettine was spending lots of time with Allen, both encouraging and exonerating the player. On one interception drill, Allen was racing down the left sideline with the ball in his right arm, prompting Pettine to say “Put it in your other outside arm.”
After a strong performance on Friday, wide receiver DaMarcus Ganaway had another strong showing. He consistently ran good routes, showed good hands and used his 6’2 size very well. Ganaway received praise from the coaching staff the day before and on Saturday offensive coordinator Tony Sparano again yelled kudos at the player.
Tight end project Hayden Smith, the former rugby player who has earned the nickname “Aussie” had his ups and down. He still seems slow to adjust to the pace of practice and he’s stiff to get off the line, running very upright. During one non-contact drill, Smith was slow and upright over the middle, leading Sparano to bark out that “If you hesitate over the middle you’re going to get killed.” Sparano yelled out similar things yesterday. But his run blocking has improved and he got better at finishing off players.
Like Smith, tryout quarterback Dan Di Lella out of Albany had some good mixed in with the bad. Di Lella has the strongest arm of the three quarterbacks in camp and used it to find Smith on a 15-yard pattern over the middle. Di Lella was praised for the play but struggled consistently with his timing and accuracy…
The other quarterbacks in camp were a mixed bag. G.J. Kinne is the most consistent of the group while Matt Simms was wildly erratic…
In many ways, rookie camp is a glorified tryout for special teams. Jordan White out of Western Michigan and Royce Pollard formerly of Hawaii both returned punts. Pollard had a bad muff on one punt.
Not sure about the extent of the injury but tight end Brian Linthicum was having his right leg wrapped by a trainer…
Rookie Stephen Hill looks ready to contribute immediately. His long stride is impressive and he challenges the smaller defensive backs very well.
Follow Kristian R. Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer
