My big takeaways from my initial watch (very similar to what a lot have posted on here already): The DL is going to be the heart and soul of the defense and maybe the team. The fact that we were able to make Carolina's starting OL look like that, without any of our "starters", wow. JJ looks like a different dude so far this offseason. It's going to be really hard for Saleh and Ulbrich to keep him off the field. I foresee a lot of Lawson, JFM, Q, JJ as the DL this season. Zach looked solid overall. Thought he started well, hit a bit of a lull, and then rebounded well. It was good to see him continue to work through his progressions on a few occasions. No wow plays but that's not what we've been asking from him for the last 2 years. We've seen him make those wow plays, so we know that's in his bag, it was good to see him take what the defense gave him for the most part. My favorite Zach play of the day was the check down to MC2, 5:09 mark in the 1st quarter. It was obvious his first read was either Hardman or Uzomah (still unsure, but I think it was Uzomah?) to the right side but they were covered up so instead of forcing the ball into a tight window on 1st & 10, he pulled it back, didn't panic, reset his feet, and found his checkdown (MC) for a short completion that ended up turning into an 8-9 yard gain. Nothing flashy, but this is the type of development we need to see from him. Thought the OL looked pretty good all day. Only 1 sack given up all game and it was a miscommunication between Becton and Colon. It really felt like we dominated the LOS on both sides for most of the game. Becton and Tippman both need to move up the depth chart IMO. I know they're slow-playing Becton but there's no more excuse for him to not start getting some reps with the 1's. He's been impactful in both PS games and I have a hard time believing that either Turner or Mitchell makes our OL better than a healthy Becton. A lot of the same can be said for Tippman. He's done very well in both PS games so far so I'd like to see him get more time with the 2's and potentially with the 1's. With every passing day/game, the likelihood of Dalvin Cook signing with the Jets goes down. I saw good things from all of our guys, especially MC and Izzy. Even if it takes Breece a few weeks to get up to speed, seems like we might be able to hold down the fort with a trio of MC/Bam/Izzy for the first month or two. I don't want to overreact to 2 games with vanilla gameplans but so far I like what I've seen from Hackett as a play-caller. Obviously we need to see how this translates to the regular season but I think it's been a good start for him. Zaire Barnes is making a strong case to make the 53. This could all come down to how many LBs they carry on the 53 but if he continues playing like he did on Saturday, I could easily see him winning the LB4 spot and making the roster. Finally, and most importantly, sounds like no one suffered any serious injury, great success!
@KY Jets Fan Nice write up. Agree on most everything. Barnes is undoubtedly making the roster. He was all over the place, flying around and he plays special teams. Surratt will be the other LB as long as his injury isn't serious. I still disagree with you, and most posters here, about the RB situation. I'm probably in the minority but MC and Bam just don't do it for me. This roster is loaded and a playoff run is not out of the question. I really would like to see Cook or Hunt back there.
I still wouldn't hate a Cook/Hunt signing. Neither may be an elite RB at this point but I do think they would be solid additions to a team with playoff aspirations even if I would prefer a move to add a piece to the OL. However, I thought MC looked good on Saturday, he looked more like rookie MC than 2nd year MC, which is a good thing for him and the Jets. It's really all going to come down to how the CS feels about Breece. I know Saleh keeps saying they think he's going to be ready for Week 1 but there's a big difference between him being "ready" for Week 1 and being able to handle the workload 2022 Breece had in Week 1 this year. I think they'll slow play Breece and let MC/Bam handle the majority of the touches to start the year but we'll see. It would be nice to have Breece back sooner rather than later as long as he's 100% healthy though.
The longer we go without signing Cook, what good does he really do? We would need him ready by week 1 to fully handle the workload. If he isn't in camp getting in shape, them what's the point? We don't need him for week 3-4-5 etc
I kind of agree with this. Somebody mentioned earlier about trading JJ or McDonald for oline help. I feel it would be much more conducive to the future and present to move Huff or Lawson instead. I love Huff, but his future is cloudy with the 2 young stud edge rushers. I'd rather move Lawson, but he doesn't have the same value.
its crazy that late in the game when the OTs are tired from battling lawson, JJ, and JFM all game we have guys like WMD and huff coming in fresh to tee off.
I don’t know who mentioned those two names for trade but those two are the two DEs who are not going anywhere - tons of talent and rookie contracts. You are correct about Lawson being the hardest to unload. Huff may be the most logical trade piece if the Jets go that route.
As I said, I go back & forth. There's a good chance he'll be a goner to FA, & now would be the best time to get the most value for him. I don't expect it, but if a high pick was offered... .
If the Jets trade a DE, I agree that it should be Lawson, but that would be kind of dirty since he took a pay cut to stay here. The thing is, does Hurst have any experience in this scheme? If not, how long would it take him to learn it and build chemistry and timing with his OL mates? Maybe we could sweeten the deal by throwing in Ashton Davis. Seriously, if the Saints wanted something else, maybe we throw them a low-round draft pick or maybe Bryce Hall. Jimmy Mooreland is probably going to take his roster spot anyway.
It makes total sense imo, and I agree. He is making steady progress. He still has a good bit more work to do, but he is getting there. It looked to me like Hackett developed the game plan for Zach to help him in two areas: being decisive and getting the ball out quickly, and working on screens and short passes. I think Zach only threw 2-3 passes to WRs. One was the pass to Hardman in the EZ, and another was to Brownlee on the sideline during the TD drive right before the end of the 1st half. It also looked top me like Hackett was working on the rushing attack and working the TEs. What are your thoughts on that?
Did he really take a paycut or just allow us to push money into the future years while taking more cash up front? Spotrac has him counting for 6.5 against the cap next year and 1.5/yr for the next 3 years after that.
Excellent post! Yes our DL is going to be scary and give opposing QBs and OCs nightmares. I like Zach's progress, and I thought Hackett had a great game plan. He wasn't predictable always running on 1st and 2nd downs and then passing on 3rd downs. He mixed things up. It seemed to me like he was working on very specific things: the rushing attack, getting the TEs more involved in the offense, and in helping Zach be more decisive, get the ball out quicker, and with his accuracy on short passes. With the exception of the miscommunication between Becton and Colon, I thought that Becton looked dominant, and he needs to be practicing with the 1st string either as the LT or RT. Tippman definitely needs to be getting some reps with the 1s and 2s. He should no longer be with the 3s. I'm back to our not needing Cook, especially if Becton is in the starting lineup. I loved seeing Yeboah take some reps where he was filling the role of a FB. I think that we should have been seing that all along. Bawden should go to the PS and not be on the roster. With Brownlee's and Gipson's not looking very good in preseason games, I'm starting to like the idea of keeping 5 TEs and 5 WRs. Yeboah looks very good and he's a core STer, I believe. With Kuntz starting to make plays in preseason games, the Jets will probably be forced to keep him on the roster although he may never see the field this year except on STs. I would be shocked if the Jets don't keep at least 4 LBs. Mosely, Quincy Wms. and Sherwood are locks. I think #4 will either be Barnes or Surratt. I'm not sure whether either would make it to the PS. Depending upon the severity of Surratt's injury, the Jets may be able to stash him on IR for a while. Yes, hopefully Ruckert's injury isn't serious and won't set him back any. I am especially thankful that we didn't have any more injuries considering that a number of starters saw action. That was surprising to me.
I could be mistaken, but I'm pretty sure that I read somewhere that it really was a pay cut, because it ws going to be less overall than he would have have been paid.
Lawson is a beast in camp when he goes against Becton. The rest of the time he's meh. I'd send him packing first before anyone else.
From The Jets Way: The Carolina Panthers started their first-team offensive line and they got absolutely dominated by the Jets swarming front. Every single player got in on the action and the Jets were without Carl Lawson, John Franklin-Myers, Quinnen Williams and Micheal Clemons. 19 Pressures 5 Sacks 4 QB Hits 5 players with a pass-rush win rate of over 10% It was a joy to watch and while everyone fashed their potential on pressure including Bruce Huff (3 pressures on 9 pass rush snaps), Quinton Jefferson (1 pressure on 7), Solomon Thomas (1 pressure on 7), Tanzel Smart (1 pressure on 14), Pita Taumoepenu (2 pressures on 20) and Deslin Alexandre (2 pressures on 19). But two players above all showed why this Jets defensive front is going to be an absolute nightmare to face throughout the season. Jermaine Johnson I don’t know what Jermaine did this summer, but I imagine he’ll be getting some calls from defensive ends wanting to make a jump. Johnson finished the day with 3 pressures, 1 sack and 1 QB hit on 9 pass-rush snaps with a win percentage of 33.3%. We all know the Jets like to rotate their defensive ends, imagine you’re an OT in the 4th quarter, blowing hard, and you look across and you’ve got Jermaine Johnson who’s played 10-15 snaps, fresh, ready…good luck. Then if that wasn’t bad or good enough, depending on your perspective… Will McDonald McDonald is too small to play as an every-down edge right now…I hear that a lot. Well, good news, the Jets don’t need him to be an every-down edge right now. They took him as an impact speed rusher out of the wide-9. Well…how is that playing out so far? In short, Carolina could not block McDonald all night. He was an absolute menace all night, he used his bend to get around the tackles, he had reps where his spin move created havoc and plays where his bull rush put the tackles on skates. In total McDonald generated 4 pressures, registered a sack, and a hit, he also had a win rate of 36.4% in 11 pass-rush snaps. That is absolutely ridiculous. We were all a little surprised by the pick, but this man is a game-wrecker.
