NY Jets Training Camp Report (KRL) – Day One 07/20/23

Written by KRL

Florham Park had some new energy today as NY Jets Training camp is officially under way and Kevin (KRL) will be in attendance each day for the first week. Here are his Jets Training Camp notes for the first practice.

General Notes

– Practice ran 2 hours long

– Since it’s early in camp, players wore jerseys, shorts, and “shock absorber” helmets for the offensive & defensive linemen.

– Credit to Woody Johnson for upgrading the seating for the fans.  Now instead of bleachers, there are actual seats, and he added “roofs” to each stand to shield people from the sun.

– Change in the opening exercise period. Instead of everyone doing the same warmups, they break out into position groups and work on “body areas” specific to their position.

– Players auditioning for the returner spot were Mecole Hardman, TJ Luther, and Garrett Wilson, which was surprising.  We’ll see how long that lasts.

– The media is funny, after the opening exercise period Aaron Rodgers and the rest of QBs went to a far field and threw against “air”.  The entire media got up and walked over 100 yards to watch/film. I couldn’t believe it.

Defense

– The defense won the day as the secondary was airtight, allowing the DLine to get pressure up front.  They shut down all deep and intermediate routes, which forced the offense into “short stuff”. There was a ton of “whooping” on the defensive sideline all day.

– Carl Lawson, Michael Clemons, Bryce Huff, and Will McDonald were impressive coming off the edges.

– Jamien Sherwood showed impressive range covering and closing any receivers in his area.

– Michael Carter had an outstanding day. Particularly impressive was his breakup of a quick slant from Rodgers to Hardman

Offense 

– The offense was “choppy” with the following mistakes
* False start penalty by Alijah Vera-Tucker
* Bad center exchange between Connor McGovern and Rodgers
* Bad communication during a Zach Wilson rep which caused Nate Hackett to drop some “colorful
language” and make them re-huddle

– I will credit Nathaniel Hackett for changing his play calls as the defense clamped down.  He started to call more “smoke screens,” “quick outs,” and screens to get the offense moving.

– Israel Abanikanda broke a screen for a 20+ yarder, which may have been the “sexiest” play the offense had all day.

QB

– Aaron Rodgers didn’t have any “sexy” plays due to the defense. So he took what he was given and worked the short area.  I believe his longest completion was to Tyler Conklin for about 15 yards. But you saw his “mind” in action to get Garrett Wilson the ball.  On this rep, Wilson was lined up in the slot on the right. Rodgers put him in motion to the left and then brought him back.  And then, as Wilson got outside of the OT the ball was snapped, and Wilson was wide open for an easy completion.

– Zach Wilson wasn’t markedly improved, as he skipped one short pass to a receiver and had the previously mentioned bad communication rep.

Standouts

– The defense

Concerns

– It will be interesting to see how the offense bounces back over the next couple of days.  Because as practice ended, Rodgers was “holding court” with his receivers and was very demonstrative.

A couple of other things:

– I didn’t see Duane Brown at practice

– Becton is in unbelievable shape, and most promising is he’s only wearing a stability brace on his knee.

-The OT’s for the #1s were Max Mitchell & Billy Turner. It’s way too early to be concerned about that. There’s a ton of mixing going on.

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