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Florham Park – A lot of interesting stuff to get into today regarding Leonard Williams, Jace Amaro, Josh Johnson and more . . .
I noticed something interesting in regards to Leonard Williams’ knee injury today.
He was wearing a medical sleeve on his right leg, but it wasn’t on his right knee. It was below his right knee.
So the fact that there is no brace on the actual knee, is illustrative of how minor this injury is.
It’s just a muscle strain behind the right knee . . .
With five quarterbacks now in Jets camp, the team needed five centers in a drill that worked on taking the snap and fading back.
The five centers were Nick Mangold, Wesley Johnson, Brian Winters, Brent Qvale and Dakota Dozier.
Barring any major developments, Johnson is going to be the backup center. He supplanted Dalton Freeman early in camp, and has been the #2 for around three weeks. He played center at Vanderbilt as a sophomore, before moving to left tackle his final two seasons.
He can basically backup at any position on the line . . .
Expect to see a lot of Matt Flynn and Josh Johnson in the Jets’ fourth preseason game.
The Jets have to discern which guy is the better option for the veteran backup role if Geno Smith is going to be out a while.
So this should make this an interesting game to watch, as these guys audition.
Bryce Petty isn’t ready to be the backup.
Now, it’s possible the Jets go with Petty as the backup in the opener, and bring either Flynn or Johnson back after the first game, this way, they can pay one of them week-to-week, and not be on the hook for their entire 2015 salary. That is how the CBA works. If you are on the roster for the first game, your salary is guaranteed for the whole season. If you sign after week one, you are paid week-to-week.
Flynn has more starting experience than Johnson, but Johnson has the better arm and wheels.
May the best man win . . .
Johnson has an interesting story. First of all he’s Marshawn Lynch’s cousin, and they went through school together – elementary, middle and high school in Oakland. While everyone wanted Lynch out of Oakland Tech, nobody wanted Johnson.
You see he was only 6-0, 165 coming out of high school.
Jim Harbaugh, the coach of I-AA University of San Diego at the time, went after him, because the coach felt he would grow.
With vision like that, no wonder Harbaugh has had such a successful coaching career. Johnson grew to 6-3. Harbaugh did an amazing job developing him, and Johnson ended up getting drafted in the fifth round of the 2008 draft by Tampa Bay.
He’s bounced around a lot since, but the mere fact that this scrawny undersized QB developed into an NFL prospect was something nobody saw coming out of high school . . .
As most of you know by now, the Jets put tight end Jace Amaro on injured reserve today. He tore a shoulder muscle.
While this is bad news for the player, and of course he could have helped the Jets in some role, this isn’t a devastating blow.
First of all, Jeff Cumberland is the Jets #1 tight end. Regardless of the white noise outside in the building on this player, the Jets like him.
And Amaro isn’t a good #2 tight end candidate right now because he’s still a work-in-progress as a blocker.
So either Kellen Davis or Arthur Lynch, two big-bodied, stout-blocking tight ends, can fill that #2 role. When you think of a #2 tight end, think Ben Hartsock. The role is about blocking, blocking and more blocking.
There was talk about Amaro working as an H-Back. Perhaps, but too me, he’s not that kind of athlete. When you think H-Back, it’s usually a more fluid athlete who causes mismatches, like Charles Clay in Buffalo. Amaro has stiff hips and average speed. To me, he needs to be an in-line tight end like Cumberland. Forget about Texas Tech and their gimmick offense. This is the NFL.
So while I think Amaro has potential, today’s news likely isn’t going to have a big impact on the Jets’ fortunes in 2015.
September 1, 2015
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