Getty A pair of New York Jets cornerbacks working through a drill during training camp.
Things are a lot different this year for the New York Jets than they were in 2021.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said as much during a recent podcast interview, “a year ago this cornerbacks group looked like one of the worst in the NFL” and now there aren’t many that are better.
One of those depth pieces from last season is still making some noise in training camp this year.
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Raising Some Eyebrows
It is hard to make an NFL roster.
When camp opens every NFL team has over 90 players on its roster. That means 2,880 players are employed in late July, but a month later after the final roster cuts, only 1,696 of those players will be on an active roster.
So with those analytics, you can have a greater level of appreciation for players that start out as undrafted free agents and overcome the odds to be NFL players.
Isaiah Dunn is one of those rare few that signed on with the Jets after the draft, worked his tuchus off, and was sitting in one of those 53 seats after a wild game of musical chairs in early September.
Since making the team last year, Dunn has only continued to impress and he has the eye of head coach Robert Saleh:
“He stands out, he has been sticky in coverage throughout training camp. Obviously, he got to play last year he made the team as an undrafted free agent. He is having a really nice camp and [Dunn] is bigger and stronger than he was a year ago. He is much more comfortable in the system. This wasn’t his only good day, he has been stacking up a lot of good days together. Obviously, he still has a ways to go but at the same time, you just love the direction he has been going in. It has been up since last year when he hit the weight room and showed up to OTAs the way he did and the way he has done everything since then.”
#Jets HC Robert Saleh praised CB Isaiah Dunn (@isaiahdunnnnn), ‘he has been very sticky in coverage throughout #JetsCamp’ + ‘he’s bigger & stronger than he was a year ago’ + ‘you love the direction he has been going in’ 📈 : 🎥 @nyjets #TakeFlight @BeaverFootball
A New World We Live In
Every improvement that the Jets have made in the cornerback room has had a double impact this offseason.
Last year Gang Green possessed one of the most unproven and inexperienced groups in the NFL on the backend. Although last year proved to be a vital learning experience for the overall group as a whole.
Now with the additions of star talent (Ahmad Gardner) and proven playmakers (DJ Reed Jr), all of those guys from last year just got sent down one rung on the ladder.
So in other words the Jets now have proven talent at the top and all of the “other guys” like Bryce Hall, Brandin Echols, and Dunn are players with experienced feathers in their caps on the bench.
If injuries befall this group in 2022 they’ll be prepared to step up to the plate and make the transition seamless to the second and third units on this depth chart.
Dunn is one of those guys who will make the backend of the roster and has proven to be a vital piece to the puzzle.
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