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A heaping helping of Friday Whispers . . .
I posted a video of linebacker Alec Ogletree on Twitter yesterday in his first Jets practice.
He was working on his backpedal in pass coverage.
A number of fans took shots at him for looking slow in the video.
That is probably a little unfair. The guy hasn’t been on a football field since 2019 with the Football Giants.
Give him a little bit of a break.
This is a player who has always had good range, and actually had five picks for the Giants in 2018.
Of course, it’s possible he lost a step, but I’m not going make that proclamation after one drill in his first practice with his first team . . .
On Thursday, I asked Brant Boyer who the candidates were to return kicks on Sunday. He wouldn’t say. Remember, I didn’t ask him who it was going to be, just the candidates. He said he didn’t want to tip off Buffalo.
I mentioned Braxton Berrios as a possibility, and maybe Josh Malone being elevated from the practice squad, but I foolishly left out an obvious candidate, rookie Ashtyn Davis, who returned kicks at Cal, including one for a touchdown.
He’s clearly a prime candidate for the job. Josh Adams is another possibility . . .
Watching the 1/2 hour of practice the media gets to watch, Marcus Maye certainly looked like a player who was going to play on Sunday. He was running around in a lot of different drills, with no clear limitations, and was no longer wearing the medical sleeve on his leg to support his calf. He just had regular tape jobs on each ankle. That is it.
Unless he suffers a set-back the next couple of days, expect Maye to play . . .
It’s pretty obvious rookie receiver Denzel Mims isn’t going to play on Sunday, now that he’s dealing with hamstring issues on both legs. He returned early this week to practice from one hamstring injury, and proceeded to pull one on his other leg.
While this injury isn’t ideal for the Jets, it’s not the end of the world. His playing time was going to be very limited due at to essentially missing all of camp, and not being entirely comfortable with the playbook. The Jets might move him to temporary injured reserve, and promote Malone.
Around the league, there are teams that won’t even play rookie receivers unless they have the system down. Look at the limited involvement of N’Keal Harry in New England last year. This isn’t street-yard ball. These offenses are pretty involved and precise. If you don’t know your assignments, you can really can hurt your team. Mims has a world of talent, but injury or no injury, he’s not ready just yet . . .
It’s going to be fascinating to see how Mekhi Becton comes out of the gate in Buffalo. The Bills are going to test him with a lot of stunts, twists and exotic looks coming at him.
“They make it tough on you, they create enough negative plays, it’s chaotic,” Adam Gase said about Buffalo’s defense. “When you play them, you feel like they’re playing with 12-13 guys on the field sometimes because they’re penetrating, there are guys blitzing all over the place, you’re lining up with a bunch of different stuff. They cause you a lot of problems.”
It looks like left guard Alex Lewis is going to play, and he’s like a mentor on the field for Becton, but there is only so much he can do.
Another big challenge for the 6-7 Becton is going to be Buffalo edge-rushers, like Jerry Hughes and Mario Addison, who are both 6-2, dipping under him if he lets his pad level rise up too much . . .
As many of you know, George Fant addressed the media today and refused to answer football questions, just social justice questions. I told you something was up. The man has refused to address the media since his introductory press conference on May 9. While he is very involved with the Player’s Coalition, perhaps he also doesn’t want to talk about football because he’s ticked off about having to play right tackle, after signing to play left tackle, before the the drafting of Mekhi Becton.
September 11, 2020
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