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A few things to get into today.
The Jets only had five wide receivers working with coach Karl Dorrell in receiver drills early in practice – Robby Anderson, Jermaine Kearse, Andre Roberts, Quincy Enunwa and Deontay Burnett (who is on the practice squad).
Terrelle Pryor wasn’t out there. Charone Peake was out there, but not practice due to a hamstring injury. Pryor is listed with a groin injury and had to deal with some kind of personal issues today.
Roberts is dealing with elbow and foot injuries, and first and foremost the Jets need to handle punts, because he’s the only punt returner on their roster.
So you wonder if Pryor and Peake can’t play, if the Jets will need to call up Burnett from their practice squad. He has built-in chemistry with Sam Darnold since they played together at USC.
One observation on Burnett – he has a lot of talent, but is dire need of a full NFL off-season conditioning program – he is very skinny . . .
Good news for the Jets. I mentioned above that Andre Roberts was practicing with the receivers today (he missed practice on Wednesday). But he was also fielding punts, which is huge news for the Jets. He’s the only punt returner on the roster, and if he can’t go, it’s unclear who they would turn to. It’s hard to imagine they would have Trenton Cannon considering his issues catching punts, but watching Roberts today, he certainly looked like a guy who would be able to play this week . . .
The Buffalo Bills signed veteran Derek Anderson to provide a backup/mentor to Josh Allen. Look, this mentor stuff is fine, but there are limitations in what it can do. Mentors can help young quarterbacks on some things like studying film, and getting in-and-out of the huddle, but once the ball is snapped, they can’t help them read defenses or go through their progressions.
So to me, mentors and off-season QB tutors are okay, but they help they can provide is somewhat limited.
Geno Smith had David Garrard, and Mark Sanchez had Mark Brunell. How much did David or Mark help those guys see the field better?
Once again, nothing wrong with veteran mentors for young quarterbacks, but don’t expect them to waive a magic wand a give a QB sophisticated eyes like Drew Brees, Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. Doesn’t work that way . . .
Sometimes it kind of flies under the radar that NFL legend Kevin Greene is a Jets assistant coach.
The man is a bonafide legend, one of the greatest edge-rushers in NFL history, playing for four teams from 1985-99, finishing with 160 sacks.
But the man paid a price for those 160 sacks – his knees are in a really bad shape. There were some horrid artificial turf fields back then – some were like a welcome mats over concrete – Houston, Philly and St. Louis come to mind.
Often at the beginning of practice, he’s often sits on a chair in the end zone during the special team’s part of practice, rubbing his knees, waiting until the team part of practice when he needs to be on his feet to coach his guys.
The man is a warrior, but he must be dealing with a tremendous amount of pain and discomfort on a daily basis.
Tough guy.
October 11, 2018
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