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A heaping helping of training camp Whispers . . .
The good and the bad from Jets rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton’s first practice in shoulder pads.
He showed his mobility and power pulling to the second level on two occasions and getting the best of two linebackers – Neville Hewitt and Blake Cashman.
“Let’s just say that didn’t go that well for me,” said Cashman.
But Becton also got a lesson from defensive end Jordan Jenkins in a one-on-one blocking drills where offensive and defensive linemen square off. Becton overset to the outside, and Jenkins easily beat him with an inside move.
A teachable moment for Becton . . .
At the end of practice, James Morgan threw a deep pass into heavy coverage. No sure who the intended receiver was. He is lucky it wasn’t picked.
It’s a huge jump up it competition coming from FIU in Conference USA to the NFL. It’s like going from Single A to the majors. Defenses a lot more complex and tougher to read on the NFL level than the low Division I level.
This could take some time, and the Jets knew this going in.
Watching him early in camp, I see a two year project and that is okay since the Jets have Sam Darnold . . .
Jets released safety Anthony Cioffi over the weekend after just one practice. Tough part of the business – personnel guys having to pull the plug on dreams throughout the summer. And what makes this early camp move even tougher is he’s a Jersey kid who grew up minutes away from Jets camp in Springfield, NJ, where his family owns a deli.
So what happened?
I would say one thing I observed during the one day he practiced with the Jets. His hips are a still stiff, which is totally out of his control, but it makes it hard for a DB in the NFL, because it challenges you to change directions against quick and speedy targets . . .
Today was the first day the Jet were in shoulder pads and perhaps the biggest hit of the day was by safety Ashtyn Davis on wide receiver Jehu Chesson on a deep pass.
Chesson was slow to get up.
Somebody on the field encouraged Chesson to get up, and he did after a few seconds, but you need to be careful about encouraging guys to fight through big hits like this because you never know if it’s a head injury.
But clearly Davis wants to show the powers-that-be that he’s not just a fast coverage safety, but is willing to throw his body around . . .
You get the sense that the Jets have big plans for edge-rusher Tarell Bashem this year. He is getting a lot of quality reps in camp. I hear Gregg Williams is a big fan of this player, a former third-round pick of the Colts. The Jets need more athleticism off the edge, and Bashem, who has plenty of flexibility and quick-twitch athleticism, might be their best hope, especially with rookie Jabari Zuniga already injured (quad) and missing valuable reps.
I think they now realize, they need to play Henry Anderson inside, and not on the edge, where he was sometimes getting outflanked to the edge by speedy runners last year. He’s a 5.0 forty guy. This won’t be a problem for “Bash” as they call him who runs under 4.7 . . .
August 17, 2020
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