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New Jersey – The Jets are going to have some tough decisions to make at this position when the cuts come to pass in the summer.
I’m talking about wide receiver.
One guy I kind of forgot about, who is still in the picture, is Salim Hakim. He is the brother of former St. Louis Rams standout Az Hakim.
Salim has world class speed. He runs in the 4.2’s.
I’m sure some of you are surprised I say he has a chance with so many wideouts on the roster, and his limited experience at position. He didn’t play a lot of college football, and when he did play, it was on a low level.
The reason he has to be on the conversation is simple – special teams.
One thing I noticed on Wednesday, was how fast he got down field on kick and punt coverage. There was nobody else like him. To say he has world class speed, might be an understatement. He can fly, and remember, the Jets lost Isaiah Trufant to Cleveland in free agency in the off-season. He was the guy who consistently got down field first, wrecking a lot of havoc on the opposing return team. Hakim, was doing that in practice.
Hey, he’s clearly on the bubble, but you can’t teach this kind of speed. It’s rare, and if he can continue to get down field so fast, and mess up returners, he will be tough to cut. This is his meal ticket . . .
Keep an eye on rookie free agent Kerry Hyder – terrific undrafted free agent defensive tackle from Texas Tech.
Watching him, he’s very quick off the ball, and gets into the backfield in a hurry. He’s one of those guys who doesn’t look the part at 6-2, 290, sans a “body beautiful,” but he finds a way to make a lot of plays.
I had a chance to talk to him on Wednesday. He’s very bright. He gets it.
On Wednesday, Hyder was running with the second team defense as an end . . .
After Wednesday’s practice, I saw Jace Amaro at the JUGS machine getting some extra work on catching the ball, after a rough practice. Rex Ryan thinks his problem was thinking too much, and not reacting. The rookies are getting a lot thrown at them right now mentally.
There is probably a lot of truth to the theory that Amaro’s head is spinning, but remember, he struggled catching the ball at the Combine.
So while he did have 106 catches last year, he does need some work on the consistency of his hands . . .
The Jets seem to have a different view of competition than others.
I don’t mean this to be flip, just trying to paint a picture of what is going on there.
With some players, there is a developmental element factored into the competition mantra.
Guys like Geno Smith, Dee Milliner, Brian Winters and Oday Aboushi come to mind.
Smith, Milliner and Winters are being given plenty of leeway to make mistakes on the job, and still keep their starting jobs.
Aboushi made the roster last year, even after a rough training camp.
John Idzik has spoken publicly, at times, about different types of competition.
So this “open competition” expresssion, you often hear around there, really isn’t 100 percent the case. Maybe it exists at some positions, but not all.
I don’t subscribe to this nuanced view of competition, and politely debated a Jets official about this, recently.
To me, competition means the best players play at every position, regardless of draft status, salary and so on. I guess I’m a purist. To me, anything other than what I described, isn’t true competition.
June 6, 2014
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