We have one New York Jets preseason game in the books and it is time to move on to the next one.
Before we get there our pair of experts, Paul ‘Boy Green’ Esden Jr and Michael Obermuller share some takeaways and takes at the beginning of August.
The Guillotine Is Coming for Several Jets Players
1. What was your most significant takeaway from the Jets’ first preseason game?
MO:
I hate to be harsh, but probably that the Jets are keeping a lot of guys around on the 90-man roster that aren’t cut out for a win-now team. I also cover the Chiefs, and it gives me somewhat of a unique perspective following a championship organization every day.
I’ll be blunt, outside of a few positions and players — some of them ex-Jets, ironically — the Chiefs depth is still much more competitive and reliable than Gang Green’s. There are guys that KC will have to cut that are legitimate NFL contributors, and while NYJ has that too, there’s still a lot of excess.
Joe Douglas may have recognized that as well, immediately cutting developmental linebackers Hamsah Nasirildeen and Maalik Hall after the game. In their place, he brought in veterans with experience.
With Aaron Rodgers here, there is simply no time to wait. Douglas has done a tremendous job filling out the roster but there’s still work to be done.
Boy Green:
To MO’s point, the NFL has gone back and forth with their roster cutdown rules over the years. It used to be done in waves. So teams would have to go from 90 to 75 then to 53 over the course of several weeks. In the current setup it is one massive ritual bloodletting on Tuesday, August 29.
NFL teams are still allowed to dump players ahead of time, they don’t have to necessarily wait for that date late in August. I think we will see the team do some releases ahead of time, but they want the bodies to make it through camp and some of these preseason games, especially late.
I had the pleasure of being at the Hall of Fame game in person and you can get a lot more from that sometimes than being back at home. One of the things that jumped off the field was Will McDonald’s explosiveness, burst, and overall athleticism.
That spin move nearly sent me out of my chair in the press box. He still has a long way to go and he will be buried in this deep defensive line room, but he is a talent to keep an eye out for that may demand more playing time if he keeps performing like that.
2. The Jets have a pair of joint practices scheduled with the Carolina Panthers this week, what are you hoping to see?
MO:
I want to see if this offense looks better against a normal team. Outside of Rodgers, Allen Lazard and a couple of others, everyone is learning a new playbook.
I understand that won’t happen overnight, but at the same time, Week 1 is just about one month away. The Jets offense has to ramp things up over the next few weeks and perhaps they will, but it’s difficult to tell against stars like Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams every day.
My biggest concern is the offensive line, and if it struggles in joint practices, that’s a bad sign for the start of the regular season.
Boy Green:
Head coach Robert Saleh has said it without officially saying it but these joint practices will be preseason games for some on the roster.
Several starters, including Aaron Rodgers, are only going to appear in these joint practices against the Panthers this week and then next week against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and that’s it. Saleh finds great value in these and prefers to save the preseason spotlight for the younger guys on the team.
So I’m expecting some juice. When I played football back in the day, I got sick and tired of hitting my teammates after a bunch of weeks in training camp with 2-a-days in the hot ass sun. When we had that first scrimmage where I got to hit someone of a different jersey color, there were different vibes all around.
I want some intensity and of course no injuries. It’s always great to test yourself out against another team and see where you stack up.
3. What is your biggest concern on the roster or coaching staff at this stage of the offseason?
MO:
I said it before and I’ll say it again: the offensive line. Honestly, I’m not sure there are too many Jets fans that would answer differently.
Duane Brown is currently unavailable, Mekhi Becton doesn’t appear ready, Billy Turner looks washed up, Max Mitchell has been hit-or-miss, and I still have a hard time trusting Laken Tomlinson and Connor McGovern to anchor a unit.
With a new coach and a new system to learn, it’ll take time for this group to gel. And so far, the starting five have yet to play together — in part, because coaches don’t even know who that starting five is yet.
The one saving grace is Rodgers. I feel much more comfortable with a veteran under center. He should help steady the OL against stunts and blitzes, and his quick passes should offer some relief in pass protection too.
Boy Green:
It’s the offensive line, but I’ll be more specific it’s the offensive tackle situation.
We’ll have a more in-depth piece about this on Heavy on Jets in the near future, but Brown isn’t practicing yet and he isn’t set to practice for weeks. As of publication of this Monday mailbag on August 7, we are a month away from the NFL opener on Thursday September 7 between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Detroit Lions. Time is running out.
Football is back and you can’t simulate chemistry on the offensive line. The only way to build it is by playing with one another and we haven’t gotten enough of that this offseason.
Some Jets Pomp and Circumstance
IT IS ONE #JETS DRIVE DEBUT DAY BABY! I’m so hyped up & can’t wait to see the first of many episodes tonight & the following Mondays after that! An award winning series, covering our team, w/ an amazing squad led by @sethbrad, we are spoiled rotten! #TakeFlight @nyjets
4. Tonight we’ll have One Jets Drive, tomorrow night we’ll have Hard Knocks, give me a prediction: who will be the biggest star of these documentary series?
MO:
Hard Knocks usually focuses on bubble candidates, so I could see someone like Jerome Kapp or Jason Brownlee getting a lot of screentime. Sauce Gardner will undoubtedly be an HBO star as well. The young man is built for the spotlight, and he doesn’t shy away from it either.
One Jets Drive will probably focus more on the newcomers. Outside of Rodgers, Lazard and offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett could be two sneaky “stars” of the series. The same goes for top draft picks Joe Tippmann (aka the “Wisconsin Waterfall”) and Will McDonald.
Boy Green:
Hard Knocks is a national audience of more than just Jets fans. The greater NFL is about to be introduced to a lot of these Jets players that fans are intimately familiar with. So, there will be some surface level stuff that they all dive and go through.
One Jets Drive is more personal and intimate. It was designed for the die-hard Jets fans and we will be exploring the weeds on that program.
I’m looking forward to hopefully a ton of defensive lineman Micheal Clemons. We’ve had a relationship on Twitter, following each other, and staying in touch. This past weekend I got to meet up with him one-on-one after the Browns game in the locker room.
We shook hands and got to chop it up. He is a super interesting personality and I hope the spotlight finds him so more people can learn about him and his story.
5. What was your biggest criticism coming off of the Jets versus Cleveland Browns Hall of Fame game?
MO:
The discipline. I’m not going to get mad about a player that’s getting cut in two weeks dropping a pass or missing a tackle, but the needless penalties are more of a systemic issue.
For example, Brandin Echols was getting flagged left and right, and he’s expected to make the team. Other guys were getting silly ones too, like lining up offside, false starts and late hits.
Hopefully, Saleh gets all that cleaned up by Week 1, but there were moments where this was a problem in 2021 and 2022.
Boy Green:
Yeah, there were some dumb penalties that really get under my skin, so hopefully that gets cleaned up.
However, I just want to see more Zach Wilson. If things go the way they’re supposed to go, we won’t see him at all during the 2023 regular season. That means the preseason is more important than ever because it might be his only time on the football field.
It’s selfish of me to want to see more, because I’m sure the Jets have a carefully thought-out methodical plan but against the Panthers this week, I want to see at least a half of football action. How far has Wilson come? What has he learned from Rodgers? So many questions and so few answers.
The debut versus the Browns was amazing to see, not perfect, but some promising signs. I’m hoping to see more before this preseason is done with.
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Jets Urged to Trim the Fat on the Roster, Cut More Players: ‘A Lot of Excess’