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Speed. We aren’t talking about the Keanu Reeves and Dennis Hopper movie.
Speed, speed and more speed. That seems to be a major focus at One Jets Drive.
Like mentioned the other day, the Jets are on a mission to improve their team speed this off-season.
So it should come as no surprise that they signed former Troy receiver Chandler Worthy today.
He was on Houston’s practice squad and regular roster last year, but had yet to receive a future’s contract offer, so the Jets jumped in and gave him one today.
He can fly.
At Troy’s Pro Day last spring, he ran a 4.34 forty.
“I felt like I could have ran a lot faster,” Worthy told the Montgomery Advertiser. “I’ll take a 4.3. That’s not bad, either. A little short of 4.2 that I wanted, but I’m satisfied with what I got.”
When you combine his 4.34 forty with the 39.5 inch vertical he registered at the Pro Day, it shows you what an explosive athlete he is.
Not only does he fit into the Jets theme of trying to get faster, but also he is a candidate to fill their kick returner void.
He had kickoff returns for touchdown in back-to-back games in 2014 – against New Mexico State (89-yard return) and Appalachian State (99-yard return).
He returned 81 kickoffs at Troy, so he has a lot of experience doing the job. He had one kickoff return for the Texans this past year during his brief time on the regular roster.
As a receiver at Troy, he had 137 catches and 11 touchdowns.
Two of Mike Maccagnan’s earliest off-season signings in 2015 – a pair of players who run 4.3 – cornerback Kendall James and Worthy.
Worthy went undrafted out of college, but was considered a priority free agent, meaning that after the draft, there were numerous teams vying for him, and he got a signing bonus.
It’s often better to be a priority free agent than being picked in the sixth or seventh round. Because as a priority free agent, you get to pick your team, and you still get a signing bonus.
Last May, Worthy signed a three-year, $1.578 million contract with the Texans.
He was on the regular roster for four games.
Look, I’m not putting him in Canton, but the fact that he has extensive returning experience, and runs 4.3, makes this signing a little more significant than some of the other future contracts the Jets have inked in the last week or so.
I understand that a big chunk of kick returns are touchbacks, but for the few that aren’t, why not go for the brass ring?
Do you see what Knile Davis did for the Kansas City Chiefs the other day? Took one to the house in Houston.
To me, the Jets essentially gave up on the play last season, with Zach Stacy and Antonio Cromartie returning the lion’s share of kicks. Stacy is an burly in-between the tackles runner not blessed with the ideal skill set to return kicks. Cromartie. Well we’ve been over that many times. One-trick pony – either there is a huge hole he can run through, or the play is essentially over.
So it will be interesting to see if Worthy can emerge as the Jets’ kick returner this year.
The job is there for the taking.
January 12, 2015
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