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A heaping helping of Florham Park Whispers . . .
Foley Fatukasi has really come in the last couple of practices (Saturday and Monday).
He’s has flashed some very good quickness off the snap, shooting into gaps and disrupting plays.
Late in today’s practice, he blew by recently signed guard Alex Balducci to A stop RB Trenton Cannon in the backfield.
Fatukasi got some starting reps today. Assistant defensive line coach La’Roi Glover has really been harping on Foley “focusing on the ball” so he won’t jump off-sides . . .
Speaking of stopping people in the backfield, Avery Williamson seems to do that a lot in practice. He is a terrific run defender with a nose for the ball and a knack of weaving through the trash to find the ball carrier.
Late in practice, he stopped Cannon in the backfield. He also stopped a bubble screen to TE Eric Tomlinson on the left side for no gain.
Williamson’s instincts are top-shelf . . .
For those people (including some in the media) putting Sam Darnold in Canton after the Rutgers’ scrimmage, chill-out man. He still has a lot of work to do. He was wildly inconsistent in today’s practice. Several passes were way off target and he almost threw a pick to Lorenzo Mauldin, not known for his coverage, on a pass to the short left side to WR Charone Peake.
I’m not bashing Darnold, who I think is a heck of a prospect, but some people need to jam on the breaks with all this hype. And today’s practice was a wake-up call.
Some were raving about his TD pass to Cannon in the red zone. Cannon was wide open on the right side of the end zone. There was nobody near him. It was a terrible blown coverage . . .
The Jets probably have the best third-string center in the NFL in Travis Swanson, a former starter with the Detroit Lions.
In the same red zone drill, Darnold had a designed scramble up the middle for a TD. On this play, Swanson pancaked recently added defensive lineman Kendall Reyes to open up the hole for Darnold.
If a team loses a center (like Arizona just did with A.Q. Shipley) Swanson could be a good pawn for a trade . . .
WR Charles Johnson is making himself very hard to cut. Some consider him a long-shot, but based on his camp so far, he has a make-it grade. On Monday, Josh McCown hit him on a nice deep pass down the left sideline on Buster Skrine.
Johnson is a big, physical receiver with 4.4 speed who flashed at times with the Minnesota Vikings . . .
I want to be fair to Skrine and not come across like I have an agenda. Skrine had a terrific PD on a deep out route from Darnold to WR Jermaine Kearse . . .
Safety Doug Middleton is having a very good summer. His instincts are outstanding and he does a nice job of lining up the defense. He’s also a big-time hitter. He’s tough and smart (just got his Master’s Degree).
August 6, 2018
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