A Few Things We Learned From The Jets And Redskins Joint Practices

Today wrapped up the 3rd and final day of the Jets and Redskins sharing a practice field, leading up to their preseason Week 2 matchup on Thursday night.

Joint practices are one of those little treats we get this time of year that people seem to forget about once the regular season rolls around. But in early-August there’s not much better than two teams going at it for a few day’s worth of drills and scrimmages after they’ve spent the last 2 months between OTAs and training camp beating up on their teammates. Tempers raged on Sunday as the teams practiced together for the first time, most of the bad blood stemming from the Redskins’ dislike for former-teammate and current Jet, Terrelle Pryor.

The animosity that led to at least 4 different fights in a span of 3 days has gotten most of the attention in the media this week, but there’s a lot more to take in and digest from these practices as we get closer to Thursday night’s showdown.

The New York Jets Are NOT Soft.

Let’s rewind this discussion back to about a week ago, when the Jamal Adams Q&A with Bleacher Report dropped and Adams was portrayed to be complaining about the work ethic amongst certain 2017 teammates.

That led to Jamal Adams having to defend his words to the media later in the week.

Solid cleanup job. Jamal Adams is a baller and had every right to be disappointed when he showed up for his rookie year only to be underwhelmed by the work veteran guys were putting in. He wants to change the culture of the team this year. End of discussion.

So now if we fast forward back to the future and look at the 3 days of joint practices through that lens, it appears Jamal Adams and the core of young talent in the locker room have already begun the process of changing this team’s culture. Practice this week has essentially been a Royal Rumble with some Oklahoma drills mixed in.

Aside from Terrelle Pryor getting punk’d by D.J. Swearinger (more on that shortly), I think we can safely say that at the very least, the 2018 New York Jets have no intention of getting rolled over by anyone this season. Jamal Adams and Co. are done with that soft shit.

Terrelle Pryor Did Not Have A Good Week

The week started with Terrelle Pryor finally giving us some more details as to why his recovery from a season-ending ankle injury last year has been so up and down, announcing not only did he tear some ligaments in his ankle and foot last season. He ALSO broke his ankle in May, requiring another surgery.

As to whether or not it happened during some form of OTAs, Pryor was a bit more vague.

Either way, at least now we know why Pryor has been flashing a lot of talent on the practice field, but won’t suit up for the 2nd game in a row when we play Washington on Thursday night. He says he’s feeling healthy and is being held out from the games as a precautionary measure. But this is still not the news Jets fans were hoping to hear.

Based on how Todd Bowles responded this afternoon when he was asked about the situation, I don’t think the Jets coaching staff wanted anyone to hear the news at all, no matter who it came from.

I don’t know if I’d call it refreshing to find out the Jets are following in the Mets’ footsteps in regards to mishandling injuries/PR situations, but I guess at the very least it makes sense.

Pryor better figure it the fuck out soon, because there are guys in that WR room who showed up at camp ready to play, and he isn’t one of them.

Speaking of which…

Tre McBride Is Here For Someone’s Job

The former William & Mary WR, drafted in the 7th round back by the Titans back in 2015, has been impressive with his play throughout camp, earning a spot running with the 2nd team last Friday night after jumping 2017 draft picks Ardarius Stewart and Chad Hansen on the depth chart. Despite the fact that both Quincy Enunwa and Terrelle Pryor didn’t play, Tre McBride’s rise this summer can no longer be ignored.

I neglected to include him in any of my previews last week as someone to keep an eye on, and that’s 100% on me. I didn’t consider injuries and all in all I thought McBride had too steep a hill to climb in order to secure a WR spot on the 53-man roster, but based on how he’s continued to play this week, I’m officially adding him to the list.

Look for #7 to have a big game Thursday night vs. the Redskins.

Jordan Leggett Is Back, Somehow Making The TE Competition Even More Confusing

I’ve had my eyes on the TE competition for a few weeks now, and despite it being a complete mess, I felt pretty good about my assessment. Chris Herndon will get a spot because of his status as a recent draft pick and has all the potential in the world to become a starter if he can ever get back on the field. Behind him, it’ll be a combination of Eric Tomlinson, Neal Sterling, and Clive Walford. Tomlinson is more of a blocking TE, while Sterling and Walford have both shown flashes throughout camp and impressed Friday night vs. Atlanta.

The other remaining player is Jordan Leggett, our 5th round pick from last year’s draft. Despite falling to the 5th round out of Clemson, Leggett came in with a good amount of potential and high hopes after a senior year that saw him find a ton of success catching footballs from Deshaun Watson en route to a National Championship.

Until yesterday, Leggett has been injured for the large majority of his NFL career. He hardly played at all last year and injuries kept him from earning more playing time as the year went on, ultimately ending up on the IR. He started the summer on the mend this year as well. All the buzz out of camp had been about how if Leggett doesn’t get back on the field soon, he might ultimately get left behind in the TE competition as a few veterans have emerged as viable options.

With the majority of the TEs banged up after the 1st preseason game of the year, Leggett has enjoyed an impressive few days of practice against Washington, including 2 long receptions in team drills today working with Sam Darnold and the 1st offense. If Leggett can work himself back into the mix, the TE competition will surely go down to the final days of the preseason, because even with his injury history, Jordan Leggett has too much potential to ignore without at least giving him a shot to prove he’s healthy and ready to contribute.

Darnold Still Looks Good

Here’s the quote from Redskins’ CB Josh Norman on what he saw from Sam Darnold in the joint practices these week.

“Alright, that’s not so much of a college-level throw,” Norman told reporters. “He’s like, putting them on the money. But then you go to 7-on-7 and it’s like, ‘OK, pass, catch here. Right there. But doggit, this little kid is not making mistakes. And he’s like, he’s really accurate.”

More than anything, it was Darnold’s poise and decision making that wowed Norman.

“You know, you get rookies in here and you try to mess with them and bait them a little bit and thinking he’s going to throw a route that you know you can make a play on and he’s not having it,” Norman said. “It’s so crazy to see at an early age. Dak (Prescott) had that, Carson (Wentz) has that, so it’s like, man, they must come in here and not want to screw it up. He’s so far, he’s impressed me and I didn’t want him to. That’s the main thing.”

By all accounts, Darnold continued his impressive summer in both drills and full-team work against Washington. I already shot most of my Sam Darnold load here yesterday, so I won’t dive back down the rabbit hole. But with all the buzz surrounding Darnold to date, the spotlight is only gonna get brighter.

His next big test will be Thursday night, and I can’t fucking wait.

It Turns Out We Might Need Another Kicker After All?

Hand up again. I dismissed the conversation at kicker as unworthy of acknowledgement last week after a few minutes of research. We signed Cairo Santos, a career NFL starter at kicker who dealt with significant groin issues in 2017 that left him sidelined or struggling for most of the season, and I incorrectly assumed that was that. Santos has done very limited kicking so far this summer, and although he claims it’s nothing more than “getting used to new tissue,” I’m starting to worry about whether we can trust him to handle the duties come Week 1 vs. Detroit.

Taylor Bertolet has been handling the job of late and he’s been solid. But he’s nothing more than one of those guys who bounces around from camp to camp each summer to put some pressure on the real NFL kickers who end up getting signed.

Would I put it past the Jets to trot out Taylor Bertolet for the opening kickoff Week 1? Absolutely not, but I hope this “situation” gets sorted out quickly.

O-Line Help Wanted

The man you see getting worked by Redskins starting OLB Preston Smith in that video is none other than Brent Qvale, a backup at LT who is expected to start for us Thursday in leave of starter Kelvin Beachum, who’s week-to-week with a foot injury.

The Jets have been pretty vague when discussing Beachum’s foot and his progress in recovery. No one has come out and said he’s expected to miss serious time. But after a shaky performance last Friday night that saw some of our 2nd string OL guys struggle, especially in the running game, our depth at OL is something worth acknowledging.

I imagine we’ll pick up some guys later in the summer after the first couple rounds of cuts go down. However until then we’re gonna have to see a lot more from the guys up front before I’m able to truly put my mind at ease.