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And like we have said before, the Jets need Cortland more than ever.
With no off-season program, if the lockout ends in July, they could use three weeks of isolation, focus and bonding in Central New York to install their systems, and teach the young players . . .
Speaking of no off-season programs, we are all aware of the various makeshift workouts being held by teams around the country.
For instance, the Washington Redskins have workouts going on right now with 41 players in attendence.
41 players!
The Saints have very good attendence in New Orleans under the direction of Drew Brees.
The Eagles have 12 players working out together in Marlton this week.
To be quite honest, the Jets scenario isn’t particularly impressive.
True, much was made of “Jets West” hosted by Mark Sanchez in Southern California shortly after the draft.
But that ended almost a month ago, and it was only a few days. How much did that much-publicized brief event really do for the Jets? Very little.
And now you have Bart Scott, Vlad Ducasse and some Miami Dolphins working out at Florida Atlantic in Boca Raton.
This is conditioning camp – not really a teaching platform.
And as we have said before – this lockout is an enormous detriment to Ducasse. He needed a boatload of tutoring from Bill Callahan this off-season to learn the right tackle spot, and it didn’t happen.
If this lockout continues much longer, at what point is he not a viable option for the starting right tackle spot? We are getting close.
If Ducasse doesn’t get the enough of a tutorial, the Jets are going to have to turn to either Damien Woody or Wayne Hunter, both free agents, as the answer at right tackle.
Obviously I’m not blaming the Jets organization for the dearth of player organized workouts, but it’s been underwhelming, compared to other teams . . .
Speaking of Sanchez, did you see that NFL.com’s Pat Kirwan ranked the league’s quarterbacks, and has the Jets signal-caller as the 20th best in the NFL, below guys like Kyle Orton, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Josh Freeman and Joe Flacco.
Kirwan feels Sanchez needs to get his team in the end zone more.
“(He’s had an) impressive start to career with a 23-14 record, including the playoffs, but needs to improve on his passing with only 29 touchdowns in 33 regular-season games,” Kirwan wrote.
That is a more than fair assessment.
Considering Mark’s poor completion percentage of his first two years in the league, perhaps the 20th ranking is fair.
But he was the quarterback on a pair of teams that participated in the AFC Championship Game, so in that regard, maybe the ranking is a little harsh.
I think Kirwan in the best analyst in the business, and I’m not blowing smoke. His work on Sirius NFL Radio is outstanding, a great listen. He’s taken NFL analysis to a whole new level.
I also think he’s still disapppointed in Sanchez, because the quarterback really messed up the USC program by leaving school early three years ago. This forced Pete Carroll to start a freshman quarterback, on a team so loaded, they would ahve waltzed to the national championship. The season didn’t work out according to plan.
Pete and Pat are best friends.
The next premium update will be Saturday night.
