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The training camp Whispers express continues. Let’s get right to it. Notes today on Morgan, Cotchery, McElroy and more . . .
Jerricho Cotchery feels his torn groin last year was caused by his back injury due to overcompensation . . .
DE Ropati Pitoitua looked good in the afternoon practice.
Bart Scott loves this guy and feels he’s going to have an impact this year.
Ropati tore an Achilles in the preseason last year and spend the season on IR.
He is a 6-8, 320-pound Somoan who has done a good job of learning how to play lower. Sometimes tall linemen have problems because they play too high which makes them easily blocked.
Ropati plays with a mean streak, and gets his hands on a lot of passes . . .
It’s a little surprising the Jets would sign safety DaJuan Morgan, and not James Ihedigbo. They are both four year players, so their fourth year minimum salaries are the same. Dig knows the system and Morgan doesn’t.
Jets consultant Tom Moore knows DaJaun from his time in Indianapolis, so perhaps that was a factor.
Morgan was very highly-rated coming out of North Carolina State in 2008, and was a third round pick of the Kansas City Chiefs, and the Jets had a good grade on him coming out of school . . .
Jets seventh round draft pick Greg McElroy scored a 48 on the Wonderlic IQ test, a remarkable score.
And when you watch him in practice, you can tell he is picking up the system very, very fast.
When he gets up to the line, the way he directs players around as he calls out his cadence, he has the command of a much more experienced player.
McElroy is exactly what you are looking for in a backup quarterback – he’s extremely bright and has great study habits. Since reserve QB’s don’t get a lot of reps in practice, this helps them when they are thrown into games due to injury.
He’s not likely going to be the backup this season – Mark Brunell will hold down that job, but there is a good chance he takes over the #2 spot in 2012 . . .
Bart Scott on the Jets not landing Nmadi Asugmuha –
“I was always hoping that (Antonio) Cromartie would be able to be here. With the addition of Cromartie it allowed us to tie up some other guys. All that time when you’re trying to win a championship, you need your stars to be stars but there are other guys that come and make contributions. We were able to bring a lot of other guys back and hopefully we can grab a couple more.”
Cromartie (27) is three years younger than Asugmuha (30), and this a big deal at cornerback.
And Scott makes a great point – Cro’s money was significantly less than Nmadi, and this allowed the Jets to get other deals done, like the David Harris contract they announced today . . .
A longshot making a lot of noise early in camp is Baylor safety Byron Landor. He’s a hard worker, smart and always around the football. He’s definitely getting everyone’s attention.