Todd Bowles was asked about the Jets’ new free safety, Marcus Gilcrist, during his press briefing at the NFL’s Owners’ Meetings in Phoenix.
Here is some of what he had to say . . .
“Marcus is very heady,” Bowles said. “He has very good cover skills. He’s a lot tougher than he looks size-wise (5-10, 198). He is very smart. He knows how to play football. Marcus can do a lot of things covering tight ends and slot receivers. He gives us a lot of versatility from a coverage standpoint. He can flex out on a running back out of the backfield, ala Reggie Bush or those type of guys. He has the ability to go out and cover and for us not to be mismatched as much as we would be mismatched in a [base] capacity.”
Gilcrist came into the league as a corner with the San Diego Chargers. He ran a 4.45 forty before the draft. While he morphed into a safety a couple of years into his career in San Diego, he still covers like a corner.
He will give the Jets excellent range at their free safety spot.
