Content available exclusively for subscribers
Be careful.
If you Google the Jets, especially this time of year, without a lot going on in the football world, don’t fall into the clickbait traps.
Headline on Wednesday from the USA Today Jets page – “Early signs suggest New York Jets nailed 2026 NFL Draft first-round.”
Early signs?
What early signs?
There are no early signs in spring practices, which are for teaching the playbook and technique.
David Bailey supposedly stood out in the spring, whatever that means.
“Early practices reinforced that belief, with his first-step quickness immediately standing out against NFL competition,” according to the USA Today report. “Bailey has already flashed the explosiveness that made him a coveted pass rusher.”
What does that mean in flag football in the spring? Line play is meaningless in these practices with no pads and little contact?
I like the Bailey pick on paper, but not sure about this flashing stuff in the spring.
The Jets’ second first-round pick, Kenyon Sadiq, missed the spring after minor groin surgery, so the only flashing he might have done was in his rehab, and he did look very fast running on the rehab field during practice.
As for Cooper, ESPN has informed the world that he was very impressive in the spring, and USA Today used that information and wrote, “One can argue he has been the most impressive rookie during spring workouts, and that’s saying a ton.”
Was Cooper more impressive than, let’s say, rookie long-snapper Garrison Grimes or cornerback Mory Bamba?
I have no idea.
Maybe it should be rephrased – “Was the most impressive rookie I was paying attention to.”
While nobody should be giving style points to rookies in spring camps, if you wanted to, you might want to start with how they are doing in the classroom, picking up the playbook, as opposed to Cooper making a couple of nice catches.
How is Cooper picking up the system? He’s a smart kid, so probably fairly well, but I have no idea. Frank Reich or Shaun Jefferson would know better.
That would be the same barometer you should use for Bailey and Sadiq. And even though Sadiq is rehabbing, he was in all the meetings, so you could judge him on this.
In so many ways, football coverage has been dumbed down to a level I’ve never seen before.
What happens is some people, who are not coaches or scouts, but get a pass to watch some practices in the spring (not all), throw out half-baked opinions on what they are seeing, throw out observations on X, or in blogs, and then others, like this USA Today writer, pick up on those hot takes, and run with them.
It’s absurd.
Who looked good in the spring?
I can’t help you there.
Look, once in a while I will say somebody made a nice catch or had a nice PD, but that is one play here or there, and we can’t even know for sure that the WR ran the right route or the DB read his keys properly. Just because somebody makes a play in a spring practice that looks good to media observers, doesn’t mean it was a great play by the coaches.
So can we stop with this nonsense?
Were there “early signs” that the New York Jets nailed the 2026 NFL Draft first round? I have no idea, and I like the picks. But to say that during teaching and conditioning camps is reckless and just clickbait.
July 2, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Friday.
