New York Jets End Of Training Camp Report

Today marks the end of the New York Jets’ training camp, which means from here on out reporters are only given access to the beginning of practice while we’re stuck trying to make aggressive and blindly optimistic assumptions about this team’s potential strictly off of game tape. Whatever, let’s not get sad about it. It also means we’re getting closer and closer to meaningful football. Even more so, we’ve got Week 3 of the preseason on Friday night, shoutout the Snoopy Bowl, as we line up against our crosstown rivals in the New York Giants.

Position battles and roster projections are clearing up with every passing day, and a lot has happened on the practice field since our most recent preseason game vs. Washington last week. Mostly good things, but a few bad things as well. Don’t panic just yet because we’re gonna make sense of it all right now, together.

Here’s what we’ve learned at training camp this week.

A Lot Of Potential Contributors Are Finally Getting Healthy

The easiest way for me to do this is to go player by player, so that’s what I’m gonna do.

Chris Herndon, the player I’ve probably hyped up the most this preseason only to be disappointed by the fact that he hasn’t stepped on the field in a game, is finally back and preparing to play Friday night vs. the Giants. The competition at TE is still as blurry as ever, but Friday night should clear things right up. Herndon has never had his roster spot in jeopardy as a recent draft pick, but if he can flash some of the athleticism that made him such an intriguing pick in this year’s draft, he should immediately shoot back up the TE depth chart.

Jordan Leggett is expected to play this week as well, and has continued to be impressive in practice with the 1s. He’s another guy who could have a big showing Friday night and save his spot on the roster after an injury riddled rookie year. It would be incredibly positive to have one of these two guys grab a firm hold on the TE spot and finally give our QBs a legitimate threat in the middle of the field and up the seam. I’m pumped to see how it goes vs. the Giants.

Kelvin Beachum and Brian Winters, two of our projected starting offensive lineman yet to play this preseason, are both looking closer and closer to finally suiting up as well.

I’ll believe it when I see it, especially because everything I’d heard up until these tweets today told me that the Jets didn’t feel the need to rush either guy back. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it’ll be nice to finally see Sam Darnold playing behind our entire starting O-Line.

Another guy I’m optimistic will return to being a major contributor this year is Quincy Enunwa. All signs are pointing to him getting some burn Friday night and he’s connected with Darnold on a few big plays this week in practice. I can’t reiterate enough how important it will be to have Enunwa on the field along with our other WRs this season because he’s a guy who always seems to find openings in big moments and can turn easy passes into chunk plays with his athleticism and toughness after the catch.

Terrelle Pryor is still a question mark as he continues to nurse an ankle that derailed his only season in Washington. Everything I’m seeing makes it sound like Pryor is ready to get on the field in a game situation and prove his worth. However, it wouldn’t be surprising if the Jets continue to be as cautious as possible with Terrelle, especially considering the depth around him at the WR position.

Again, being able to see Darnold play on Friday night surrounded by as many starters as possible will be essential to the Jets coaching staff getting a full evaluation off his readiness, but sometimes it’s more important to let guys fully recover. We shall see how that one works itself out the rest of the week.

Isaiah Crowell has cleared concussion protocol as well, so we should see a good amount of him Friday night. But given how little he has to prove at this point, I don’t expect the Jets to take too many risks with his health at this point in the summer.

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Finally, Parry Nickerson has been back in pads and practicing fully this week. He’s a guy who flashed a ton of potential early in camp, so it’d be nice to see him on the field vs. the Giants on Friday night. That being said, I’m gonna wait a day or two before I fully commit my heart to his return. He could be a really nice piece in our secondary down the road whenever he’s ready to go.

Things Are Happening At Kicker, And They’re Not Great

Cairo Santos is out without ever kicking a ball in a game this preseason. Jason Myers is in, but don’t look up his stats unless you want to be thoroughly disappointed. Apparently Kai Forbath will come in for a visit/tryout as well after getting cut by the Vikings of Minnesota. We still have Taylor Bertolet on the roster as the guy who’s been handling the kicking duties of late, so it sounds like the Jets are gonna let them all fight out and run with the best option Week 1. Am I at all confident that this is gonna work out? No, not really.

I’ll Be Rooting For Lorenzo Mauldin Friday Night

So Lorenzo Mauldin IV tweeted that yesterday before promptly deleting it, pretty much implying that he’s expecting to get cut any day now. For those who don’t remember, Mauldin was one of the best stories coming out of college the year he was drafted.

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The video goes into more detail about his troubled and incredibly difficult childhood, something he was able to overcome and find success as a LB at the University of Louisville. Since then, his stock has been trending downward, and he’s been kept off the field by injuries for most of the last 2 seasons. He’s finally healthy but hasn’t really shown much this preseason to keep his name off the roster bubble. I genuinely hope he can get on the field Friday night and show he still has some of that athleticism left in him, because as much as I’ve ripped him the past few weeks, he seems like the kinda guy who deserves to stick around.

Keep An Eye On Darron Lee And Tre McBride

Two guys who I’m choosing to focus on for two completely different reasons.

First off, Darron Lee is coming off another pretty underwhelming performance in Washington last week. I don’t need to speak on his pedigree anymore, but it’s time for him to start looking like the player we drafted him to be. I’ve seen some good things out of camp this week in regards to his improved play, but we need to see more of it when the lights come on Friday night if he wants to hold onto his starting spot throughout the regular season.

Tre McBride continues to make my appearances in my blogs for the opposite reason. At this point, he’s the breakout star of camp. He has a really good shot to make the roster, and with another impressive showing Friday night it’s not inconceivable to think he deserves to be in the mix at WR during the regular season.

Stay tuned for more New York Jets preseason coverage as we get closer to the Week 3 showdown with the New York Giants, a game aptly known as “The Snoopy Bowl”. Everybody loves Snoopy.