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No question, he didn’t play well.
But neither did the other corners.
The Jets released Pierre Desir on Tuesday.
The problem with the timing of this move is they also put nickel back Brian Poole (knee) on injured reserve on the same day, so this leaves them not only thin at cornerback, but very inexperienced. Desir and Poole were the most experienced players in the cornerback room.
Desir gave up some plays against New England, but so did Bless Austin, Bryce Hall and Arthur Maulet. Plenty of blame to go around with the cornerbacks against New England.
The release of Desir is a bad optic for Jets assistant GM Rex Hogan, because now all three corners who followed him from Indianapolis, Desir, Quincy Wilson and Nate Hairston are all gone. Hogan joined Joe Douglas’ personnel department in June of 2019 after serving as a VP with the Indianapolis Colts, so it stands to reason that he recommended these players to Douglas.
I’m not here to defend Desir, who has been wildly inconsistent this season, but he has plenty of company. He had a bad play on the late drive where New England tied the game, giving up a 31-yard pass to Damiere Byrd, who caught a short pass in front of Desir on the right side, and then crossed the field for a big gain. It was a bad play by Desir, there is no way around it, but Desir led the NFL in interceptions with three, so he has shown some ball skills.
But like I said, none of the other corners played well either, including the guy who will likely replace Desir in the starting lineup, Bryce Hall, who gave up a 20-yard gain late in the game to Jakobi Meyers, that set-up Nick Folk’s game-winning 51-yard field goal.
Meyers was wide open, just like Meyers was wide open on a another gain of 20 on Hall in the third quarter. Not only was he wide open, Hall got called for pass interference, but the penalty was declined.
Look, I’m not looking to pick on Hall, but just saying, he was no better against New England, than the man he’s likely replacing. In his defense, it was his first NFL action, so perhaps he will improve with time.
The Jets are going very young at cornerback with Desir and Poole now out of the picture, with the likely trio of Bless Austin, Hall and Arthur Maulet (nickel). Perhaps rookie Lamar Jackson will also get some action. Not only is that group young, but not the speediest.
All these guys will give you everything they’ve got. They all have great attitudes and toughness, but going so young at cornerback, in a pass-happy league, is going to create inherent challenges for the Jets. If it doesn’t well, it could contribute to landing the first pick in the draft.
The Jets play the Chargers on Sunday in Los Angeles. Who going to cover superstar Keenan Allen, one of the NFL’s best receivers. Who’s going to cover 6-4, 218 Mike Williams, a very talented former first-round pick from Clemson?
This is a very risky plan to not just go very young at cornerback, but you aren’t exactly going with a group of highly-rated, high picks. Some might call the entire group fringe prospects.
Hey, maybe it will work out grea, but also could get real messy, with some very good passing attacks coming up on the Jets’ schedule.
November 18, 2020
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