Makes sense to me. Honestly I don't even know who played the position last year but I'm assuming it was a backup LB (Bellore maybe? Not sure). I'd bet that's what the other 31 teams use as well because that's the value of the position. The dumbest thing about it is that it's a relatively low value position that a backup LB probably should play so it's highly unlikely that Pryor will see a single snap at that position yet he's doing it in camp? You want to put him on special teams, fine, but why a role that is seems he's not going to play? It's not even about him possibly getting hurt it's more of an issue of wasting time when he could be learning something valuable that he can use in the season. That's like saying "well, he's going to play on defence so let's try him at nose tackle, that's defence" he's not going to play there so why are you putting him there? And if the plan was to use him there in the season that's just stupid. As noted it appears to be a pretty low value position as I bet a good deal of people can't name who did the role for us last year and I bet nobody can name a single other personal punt protector on any team in the league. Why is that? Because no first round picks are doing it. Hell, no second, third or fourth round picks seem to be doing it.
It was Bellore and I think we are all getting way ahead of ourselves before anyone knows what it was they were doing. It was a drill.
I think this might be as good a place as any to state that I'd like never to see Sheldon Richardson subbing in on the goal line offense ever again.
Yea it's always fun watching a big man score a TD, especially when it involves some rumbling and bumbling. But we have other RB's for that job - Ivory seems perfectly suited for it actually.
Vick should be the PPP, that'll open up the fake punt options. Didn't we draft some pitbull of a kid to be PPP?
First round rookies don't get cut for performance reasons. It just doesn't happen. There was a 1st round pick named Dimitrius Underwood who tried to kill himself twice and was cut from the team during the first week of training camp- but other than that, or if a guy became paralyzed or lost a limb or something- if you're a 1st round pick you are a lock to make the team your rookie year. After that, in extreme cases you can be cut right after the season (i.e. the OT Andre Johnson, not the wide receiver), but in general 1st round picks will get 3 - 4 years in the league even if they don't seem to be starting caliber. Sometimes it's not with the team that drafted them, but no team wants to see their 1st round pick go to another team and become a great player because he just needed a second year to develop. That's the kind of thing that gets GMs fired. So the 1st rounders almost always get at least a second year with their original team. And after that, another team will generally want to kick the tires and see if perhaps they just weren't in the right scheme, or if maybe the experience of getting cut jolts them into working hard. One example is Aaron Maybin. He was touted as a potentially great pass rusher and Buffalo drafted him in the first round. 0 sacks as a rookie. 0 sacks in his second year- and he was cut. Then the Jets signed him. Why? Draft status and potential. He had 6 sacks with the Jets, then 0 in 2012, and now he's out of the league. It took 4 years. Buffalo didn't even give up on him until 2 failed years, and then the Jets gave him a chance. Coaches will say that "everyone has to earn their spot on the team" - in the long run that's true, but as rookies, it's a lie. If they had zero doubt they'd make the team, some of them would work less hard, so coaches want to create an atmosphere where they're as nervous as anyone else about being cut. But the reality is, even when they're bad players, they don't get cut as rookies. At that point, they're still looking at the player's potential, and hoping it just takes a second or third year to unleash it. Not every fan understands just how big a deal draft status is for players in the first 4 or 5 years of their career. (After that, I agree- it doesn't matter.)
Dennis Waszak Jr. Rex clarifies that Pryor was injured on a kick return (not on a punt) and the returner was knocked into him. #Jets Dennis Waszak Jr. Rex says Pryor has no history of concussions. Re: in college, etc. #Jets I don't like the idea of Pryor on special teams but he was not the punt protector. Also I hope that second tweet is actually true.
I think coaches want to strike a balance on special teams- you want to protect your best guys from injuries, but at the same time, special teams play is important. If you don't put any starters in there, you'll suffer on special teams, and that can easily be the difference in a close game. And about 50% of NFL games are won by a TD or less. I think it depends on the particular player and the particular role on ST. Gronkowski never should've been in on the extra points, because they're never blocked. There's no upside to Gronk being in there instead of some schlub from the bottom of the roster. Neither of them is ever going to block an extra point, so why risk Gronk? Whereas- I can understand putting a young Patrick Peterson or a young Cromartie in returning punts/kickoffs and taking that risk, because he's got a chance to score, a chance to get you 10 - 20 extra yards compared to a normal return guy. I think it's pretty clear that Pryor being the personal punt protector is a bad idea though. I don't know if Rex is planning on using him in that role during the regular season (doubtful) but he might want different guys to get familiarity with different special teams roles because injuries during the season require guys to step in to other roles. So if he's had a handful of reps doing it, he would be better at it during the regular season. Still, I think they could find a more suitable person to do punt protection duties than Pryor- he's too valuable for that, even in practice. So I like the analogy to Gronkowski's injury. Let's hope that Pryor's head injury is no big deal and that he'll be able to get back out there soon and keep learning.
lol - you spent this entire thread defending Rex using Pryor as a personal punt protector. Now that it comes out he wasn't using him as a PPP you go with this. Okay buddy.
When Mick Westcoff came here from Miami he insisted on ANY player he needed playing STs. Of course Mike wasn't stupid...if he had a backup LBer that was 99% as good as a starting LBer he'd go with the backup. But having access to ANY starter he wanted was part of why he had a top ranked Teams year after year.
The dude scored 2 rushing TDs and the move was smart. Against the Panthers they are very tough up front and Richardson can smash his way in. This year we will probably have more versatility with the RBs, so it may not happen, but I'm not opposed to doing against teams that are really tough up front in goal line situations.
