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A heaping helping of Jets Whispers . . .
I am not going to write a lot about the Jamal Adams melodrama. I find the story boring. To me, the thing he’s pissed about is that he wasn’t traded to his hometown Dallas Cowboys, and now that it didn’t happen, he’s trying to play the victim to Jets fans and look like a martyr. In a way it’s a smart PR move, but if you don’t think Adams would have liked to be traded to his hometown team, also a playoff contender, in tax-free Texas, I have a swamp in New Jersey to sell you . . .
Watching practice today, I noticed a really tall offensive lineman I didn’t recognize.
At first, I thought it was 6-8 Connor McDermott, but it wasn’t. McDermott wears 69 and this guy was wearing 65.
But there was no 65 on the roster.
After a few minutes, I realized who this is – it is practice squad defensive lineman Corbin Kaufusi, who the Jets are now trying as an offensive tackle. He is listed at 275 on the roster, but is up to 310. At 6-9, he doesn’t look fat at 310 – he carries it well . . .
Speaking of projects, Bless Austin continues to look very smooth on the practice field. He is a nice looking corner at 6-1, and around 200 pounds. He looks the part.
And with the Trumaine Johnson now reportedly nursing two ankle sprains, it might be time to put him on IR and eat his enormous salary for the rest of this year, and activate Austin.
Johnson has not only turned into one of the bigger free agent disappointments in Jets history, but perhaps NFL history, when you consider he got $45 million guaranteed in his contract, and has looked like a journeyman cornerback during his time in green . . .
Before the Jets started practice today, Steve McLendon gave a fiery speech to the team.
Obviously I don’t know what he said, and if I did, I wouldn’t report it (against the rules), but it was animated.
With all the turmoil surrounding this team right now, I was wondering who would deliver this speech today.
Jamal Adams often gives speeches, but considering his Twitter drama attacking the team’s GM, it would have been hard for Adams to be the guy to rally the troops today . . .
At the beginning of the defensive drills, Jets DC Gregg Williams has two players do a ton of push-ups – 50 up-and-downs – from a standing position to the ground, and then back to a standing position – with defensive teammates surrounding the two players.
Today those two players were new players – a linebacker signed to the regular roster named B.J. Bello and another linebacker signed to the practice squad named Ukeme Eligwe.
With the injuries to current starting inside linebackers C.J. Mosley and Neville Hewitt, and starting inside linebacker Avery Williamson in training camp, the Jets needed to stock up on inside linebackers, so that explains the additions of Bello and Eligwe.
B.J.’s full name is Amin Babajide Bello.
Both of these players are fast run and hit linebackers. Bello ran 4.56 when he came out of Illinois State (played there are a grad transfer coming over from Illinois), Eligwe ran 4.58 when he came out of Georgia Southern. But don’t judge Eligwe by his school, not that there is anything wrong with Georgia Southern, but sometimes you see a school’s competition level and judge the player by it. Bello, was considered a 50 high school players in 2012, and signed with Florida State, when Florida State was getting top 50 recruits under Jimbo Fisher.
The Jets need to get faster on defense, and clearly they know that . . .
Nathan Shepherd, back in the building off suspension, looks like he dropped some weight, which was a good idea – should help his quickness.
October 30, 2019
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