Speaker 1: We meet anybody in the world, and I think we're
Speaker 1: gonna win.
Speaker 2: Next Sunday gets wonder, can't put your seat belts on
Speaker 2: and getting ready for the ride.
Speaker 1: Welcome into the Official Jets podcast, Eric Allen here one
Speaker 1: Jets Drive, joined by my man Quitsia Nonwa. Before we
Speaker 1: get into a lot of topics, including the NFL schedule release,
Speaker 1: Q OTAs on the horizon for Aaron Glenn and company.
Speaker 1: I want to get your thoughts on rookie Mini caamp
Speaker 1: and the draft as well. We might even go game
Speaker 1: by game and get your predictions for that schedule. We
Speaker 1: are presented by Kendra Scott. Game Day and every Day.
Speaker 1: Score a Jewelry touchdown with Kendra Scott. Shot Fashion and
Speaker 1: find jewelry fit for another winning season at your local
Speaker 1: store or Kendra Scott Shine Bright. Do good with Kendrick Scott.
Speaker 1: We are doing good with Q What is up?
Speaker 3: My man? Oh man?
Speaker 4: I can't complain everything as well. I love coming back
Speaker 4: to the building. Brings me back, you know, So those
Speaker 4: are always great memories.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: So from a player's perspective, when the schedule is released,
Speaker 1: do you pay any attention to it?
Speaker 4: Just a little bit, you know? Everybody's different. I'd say
Speaker 4: for myself, I think back to like twenty sixteen, we
Speaker 4: play the Chiefs and we play the forty nine Ers,
Speaker 4: if I'm not mistaken, and those two games are important
Speaker 4: to me because I grew up a Chiefs fan, and
Speaker 4: then my family's from California, so I'm like, okay, where
Speaker 4: am I going to see my family? So I just
Speaker 4: had to make sure I knew when that time was coming.
Speaker 1: All right. You guys are creatures of habit, though, do
Speaker 1: you ever look at the times of games or travel
Speaker 1: Because for the Jets from their perspective, this year thirteen
Speaker 1: one o'clock games, not many travel miles either, about half
Speaker 1: of them one trip to London.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I think that's definitely a big part of it.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: I think you love the Pride Time game just because
Speaker 4: you get more eyes on you. But it's always good
Speaker 4: to get a one o'clock game. Then you get your nights,
Speaker 4: you know, to recover, and it's not so late, right,
Speaker 4: so you get to play the game, you get to
Speaker 4: do your work, and then you get to go home
Speaker 4: and enjoy yourself obviously after a win.
Speaker 1: So what was your game day prep like? If you
Speaker 1: knew a one o'clock game was on the rise, because
Speaker 1: that's where the Jets are gonna start at the friendly
Speaker 1: confines of MetLife Stadium week one against the Steelers and
Speaker 1: then week two against the Buffalo Bills.
Speaker 3: It was pretty simple. You know.
Speaker 4: Obviously I would wake up. I tried to wake up
Speaker 4: before breakfast so I can kind of get my mind
Speaker 4: ready for the day. Go down to get breakfast, you know,
Speaker 4: go over any notes I need to have, watch a
Speaker 4: little bit of film, and then from there, you know,
Speaker 4: I'm at the stadium probably as early as possible. You know,
Speaker 4: if it's in away game, then you have certain busses
Speaker 4: that will leave at certain times, but if it's a
Speaker 4: home game, you could just drive there. So I try
Speaker 4: to get there pretty early. Because what's pretty early, I
Speaker 4: want to say like ten, maybe around there, nine thirty,
Speaker 4: just so I can kind of I like to So
Speaker 4: what I like to just get here is early. I
Speaker 4: mean you saw me say I guy here early. I
Speaker 4: don't always like to do that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're taking a nine ques already on the staircase
Speaker 1: at eight fifteen saying where the hell is everybody?
Speaker 4: So you know, I like to get early and just
Speaker 4: kind of get comfortable, you know, so I like to
Speaker 4: walk on the field, you know, just kind of look
Speaker 4: at the bleachers, look at the sign, like I don't know,
Speaker 4: I like to ground myself in the place that I'm at.
Speaker 1: All right, So, holistically, thirteen one o'clock games, two prime
Speaker 1: time games for the Jets. Your thoughts in terms of
Speaker 1: the change and maybe what the league expects from the
Speaker 1: team this year.
Speaker 4: I mean, to be honest with you, let's just talk
Speaker 4: about ag I think it's exactly what he wants, right, Like,
Speaker 4: he'ss not looking at a season like we've had the
Speaker 4: last couple of years, where it's so many primetime games,
Speaker 4: so much attention. I think this is exactly what they're
Speaker 4: looking for. Less eyes on them, so they can just
Speaker 4: kind of work, right. Those one o'clock games will have
Speaker 4: just kind of the local people and anybody wants to
Speaker 4: tune into a Jets game. And so for the team,
Speaker 4: it's like, okay, you know, we don't have as much expectation,
Speaker 4: but that's okay because we can come from the bottom
Speaker 4: and really show what we're capable of.
Speaker 1: How about the storylines there in Week one? The Jets
Speaker 1: and the Steelers have never met in a season opener.
Speaker 1: Justin Fields is new here the QB one for the
Speaker 1: Green and White. He signs an offseason. He was the
Speaker 1: starter for the Steelers last year, appeared in ten games,
Speaker 1: started six, but after leading the Steelers to a four
Speaker 1: and two start, they gave the keys to Russell Wilson.
Speaker 1: He signs, Field signs with the Jets and free agency,
Speaker 1: and now his first start with the Jets comes against
Speaker 1: the Steelers.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean there's going to be a lot of storylines there, obviously,
Speaker 4: and I think the biggest one for him will be
Speaker 4: the emotional part of it. I think you think about
Speaker 4: this is his first game as a starter for the
Speaker 4: New York Jets and it's against your former team. I
Speaker 4: don't think there's any animosity for him against but I
Speaker 4: know from what he's spoken about, they didn't let him
Speaker 4: be his best self at quarterback, right. There was a
Speaker 4: little bit of they didn't have confidence in him to
Speaker 4: be the starter. They didn't give him the reins to
Speaker 4: just go ahead and do everything he wanted to do.
Speaker 4: So I think he wants to go out there and
Speaker 4: show like, this is what I'm capable of. And one
Speaker 4: thing I like about ag is that He's putting a
Speaker 4: lot of confidence in his coaches, so we're gonna see
Speaker 4: hopefully the best version of him because they're going to
Speaker 4: coach him hard.
Speaker 1: What do you think feels is capable? This is his
Speaker 1: third team, obviously drafted by the Chicago Bears' number eleventh
Speaker 1: overall back in twenty twenty one, then traded to the Steelers.
Speaker 1: This is his fifth season coming up.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, I mean it's crazy to think about that,
Speaker 4: but I think you know, we've seen what he's done, right,
Speaker 4: He's done something that maybe only I think two other
Speaker 4: quarterbacks have done in the running game as a quarterback.
Speaker 4: So that's amazing, right. His legs are elite. Right now,
Speaker 4: we've got to see a little bit more of his arm.
Speaker 4: I know that he can throw the ball. He has
Speaker 4: some issues with accuracy at times, but I think what
Speaker 4: we're going to see here is the ability to add
Speaker 4: in the play action pass right, So that'll give him
Speaker 4: the opportunity to make those quick passes like you think
Speaker 4: about like tool right, Like their offense is so quick.
Speaker 4: He's an accurate quarterback, but they also don't make him
Speaker 4: think too much. It's just kind of getting the ball
Speaker 4: out of there. I kind of want to see that
Speaker 4: a little bit with him and allow him to use
Speaker 4: his legs really be a dual threat, because then it'll
Speaker 4: kind of put a little pressure on the defense.
Speaker 1: Do you like the Jets overall starting at home though,
Speaker 1: in front of their fans, You know that atmosphere is
Speaker 1: gonna be crazy because those Pittsburgh fans travel pretty well themselves.
Speaker 1: That's the national brand Jets Steelers.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, I think so. I think that first home game,
Speaker 4: or that first game being a home game is deep
Speaker 4: because you know, you want to get that fan base
Speaker 4: kind of on your side early, right, and so when
Speaker 4: you can get that, when you go out on the
Speaker 4: field and everybody's cheering.
Speaker 3: For you, you.
Speaker 4: Know, there's so much more excitement. Now on the other
Speaker 4: side of it. I do love playing the villain, you know,
Speaker 4: I don't mind going to it in an away game
Speaker 4: and everybody's kind of booing you. But it's something about
Speaker 4: everybody cheering you as an entertainer that feels pretty good.
Speaker 1: All right. Who's going to be the Pittsburgh Steelers starting
Speaker 1: quarterback in Week one? Huh? Is it a guy who
Speaker 1: started seventeen games for the Jets last year?
Speaker 3: That's that?
Speaker 4: It could be. I mean, I wouldn't put it past him,
Speaker 4: but you know again, I don't.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 4: It's hard to tell, Like you really don't know what
Speaker 4: he's thinking. Obviously, we you know, we've we've we've dealt
Speaker 4: with that, so we are going to see. It's getting
Speaker 4: down to the wire, right He's starting to start. OTA's
Speaker 4: you know, you kind of want to be in there
Speaker 4: getting used to your guys, getting used to the system.
Speaker 4: So I guess we're gonna find out if he goes
Speaker 4: there otherwise makes the Rudolph exactly that that would be
Speaker 4: the next guy.
Speaker 1: I love it from the perspective of yes Fields against
Speaker 1: the Steelers, the Moujik Glenn era gets underway at home.
Speaker 1: Maybe Aaron Rodgers is facing his former team, the Jets.
Speaker 1: But how about the jets vastly improved offensive line. You
Speaker 1: got some depth pieces you draft ar My Membu is
Speaker 1: gonna be competing for that right tackle spot against the
Speaker 1: defensive line that starts with TJ. Watt, one of the
Speaker 1: better defensive players in the National Football Cam Hayward's still there.
Speaker 1: They drafted Derek Harmon in the first round as well.
Speaker 1: This is a defense that gets after you and you know,
Speaker 1: the Jets offensive mentality is going to be completely different
Speaker 1: than it was last year when they were thirty second
Speaker 1: in the National Football League in terms of rush attempts.
Speaker 1: The Jets are going to try to win at the
Speaker 1: line of scrimmage. And you know, the Steelers played bullie
Speaker 1: ball themselves.
Speaker 4: Yes, And one thing that we didn't talk about is,
Speaker 4: you know, last year that wasn't the best game for
Speaker 4: the Jets against the Steelers. But one thing I do
Speaker 4: remember was Garrett Wilson had a pass that you know,
Speaker 4: bounced off his chest. I know he's going to want
Speaker 4: to come back. And now he's got his guys quarterback
Speaker 4: they got exactly right, exactly He's gonna want to come
Speaker 4: back and kind of prove that you know, this is
Speaker 4: not you know, you guys are gonna play me at
Speaker 4: my best self, right, And now I have my guy
Speaker 4: from college. That synergy there is going to be amazing
Speaker 4: for him. I think when you think about having a
Speaker 4: guy that you got a chance to really become who
Speaker 4: you were in college, now you get to go out
Speaker 4: here and show that this is who he's capable of.
Speaker 4: I think he's going to want to show that justin
Speaker 4: fields is that as well. So it's gonna be a
Speaker 4: great showing for that first game.
Speaker 1: Steelers got a big weapon on the outside and all
Speaker 1: season Tk Metcalf, but then they just traded George Pickens
Speaker 1: to the Cowboys.
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you thought it was gonna be a
Speaker 4: little one two punch, but I guess they got tired.
Speaker 4: I mean, listen, I don't know Pickett or Pickings personally,
Speaker 4: but there's a lot of talk on the outside about,
Speaker 4: you know, his attitude and stuff like that. So we
Speaker 4: know that Tomlin is a guy that can deal with
Speaker 4: some personalities, but it seems like they kind of recent
Speaker 4: end of his lease.
Speaker 1: I guess, all right, so quickly we're gonna go through
Speaker 1: every game and then I'm going to ask see it
Speaker 1: for a record for this.
Speaker 3: Let me make sure I see this go ahead, all right?
Speaker 1: So second game, Buffalo, that's a team that's won the
Speaker 1: division the last five years. Josh Allen coming off in
Speaker 1: MVP type season. So from your perspective now in the
Speaker 1: media world, does that put a little bit of extra
Speaker 1: on that home opener where you like to get at
Speaker 1: least one in your pocket before you to the road.
Speaker 1: In Week three against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, not saying
Speaker 1: you can't beat the Bills. Yeah, but we'll follow on paper,
Speaker 1: probably the more complete team than the Steelers.
Speaker 4: And you know what's you know what's wild about that
Speaker 4: is last year there's a lot of question marks on Buffalo,
Speaker 4: especially in the receiver room, like they don't have anybody.
Speaker 4: You know, they just lost Diggs and you know those
Speaker 4: guys stepped up, so you know, now they have Elijah Moore,
Speaker 4: it's gonna be a challenge. You think about those two
Speaker 4: games that the Jets played against them last year. You know,
Speaker 4: it wasn't exactly the best. Josh Allen did some ridiculous things,
Speaker 4: So you definitely want to get that win. It's a
Speaker 4: divisional game, but the first game is definitely gonna be
Speaker 4: a win you're gonna want because that second game is
Speaker 4: gonna be a battle.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the Bills have won the last five AFC Eastern titles.
Speaker 1: Week three going to Tampa. So Todd Bowles down there,
Speaker 1: former Jets head coach. He was Aaron Glenn's positional coach,
Speaker 1: both here with the Jets and later with the Dallas Cowboys.
Speaker 1: How about this queue, Tampa is the only team in
Speaker 1: the NFL he's made the playoffs in each of the
Speaker 1: past five seasons, so quietly, just very consistent down there.
Speaker 1: And if you're looking for a great story in terms
Speaker 1: of a quarterback reclamation project, how about Baker Mayfield. So
Speaker 1: Jets fans can look at Mayfield and say, hey, maybe
Speaker 1: we got a different type player here with the physical
Speaker 1: skill set. But Justin Fields is twenty six. His story's
Speaker 1: not over by any.
Speaker 4: Means at all, and I think that age is definitely
Speaker 4: looking at that, right, He's looking at a guy like
Speaker 4: Baker Mayfield. Obviously we talk all the time about Donald,
Speaker 4: we talk all the time about Geno, but Mayfield is
Speaker 4: another guy, you know, And I think that's something that
Speaker 4: you want to look at and say, hey, listen, he
Speaker 4: was coached this way. We put him in an environment
Speaker 4: where he's successful. We gave him all the tools he needed,
Speaker 4: and they're continue to give him tools.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: They just drafted a Mecca a Buka. So yeah, I
Speaker 4: think the Jets are looking at that mold and want
Speaker 4: to do the same thing for Justin Fields.
Speaker 1: Interesting challenge right away for the Jets secondary because you
Speaker 1: mentioned a book Mike Evans just produces year and yeah, wow, crazy.
Speaker 4: Yeah, we're in the same Jeff guys. So see him
Speaker 4: still going. I talked to him when we did the
Speaker 4: joint practice, you know. So it's just cool to see
Speaker 4: him continuing to be elite at a high level consistency,
Speaker 4: like the model of consistency.
Speaker 1: Wait, four Monday Night Football, Miami Dolphins. Yeah, so I'm
Speaker 1: looking at the division and saying, hey, New England spend
Speaker 1: a lot of money in free agency, a lot of
Speaker 1: people really like their draft class. They got Mike Frable,
Speaker 1: so they should be seeing it as a sending team.
Speaker 1: I like what the Jets are doing here. Where does
Speaker 1: Miami kind of fit in inside the division right now?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: So that's it. That's a that's a good question. I
Speaker 4: mean they've been in a little bit of a question
Speaker 4: mark with two is health, right, So we're we're gonna see.
Speaker 4: I know that there's another thing. Did they get rid
Speaker 4: of Jayalen Ramsey or not? I know that was a
Speaker 4: question mark, right, So that's another part there. Yeah, So
Speaker 4: there's a lot going on there Tyreek Hill. So you
Speaker 4: know they've got a lot. They got a cloud over them,
Speaker 4: you know, So we're going to see how that looks
Speaker 4: going into training camp and all those different things. How
Speaker 4: does your team look this season. It's going to be different.
Speaker 4: It's definitely going to be different. It's going to be
Speaker 4: a little bit of a challenge for them to be
Speaker 4: the team that we've seen at least two years ago.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and what's going to happen with Tyreek Hill now
Speaker 1: that he's on the back half of his career when
Speaker 1: we were talking about thirty years old. They did take
Speaker 1: Kenneth Grant, the defensive tackle out of Michigan there in
Speaker 1: the first round. We'll try to get some players back
Speaker 1: that they lost the injury last year. You know, they've
Speaker 1: always been very competitive with two is in the lineup.
Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that Monday Night football earlier in
Speaker 1: the year. From a player's perspective, what do you have
Speaker 1: to do to get yourself ready for South Florida is anything?
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4: I mean because it helps us game. It's a different heat,
Speaker 4: but yes, the night game is going to be helpful.
Speaker 4: I love I love the primetime games. Honestly, you know,
Speaker 4: those are the opportunity for I always say this, like
Speaker 4: NFL players were entertainers, right, this is an entertainment business,
Speaker 4: and so when you go out there knowing that old
Speaker 4: eyes are on you. Different level that comes out of you.
Speaker 4: So that's gonna be a lot of fun to watch.
Speaker 4: I'm sure it'll be a lot of fun to play
Speaker 4: as well.
Speaker 1: So two division games in the first four, you have
Speaker 1: Buffalo at home. You got the road game against the
Speaker 1: Miami Dolphins the week four. Okay, let me throw a
Speaker 1: couple games at you, all right, let's do it. America's team. Yeah,
Speaker 1: the Dallas Cowboys coming back. That Dak Prescott returning from injury.
Speaker 1: He's an elite player when he is healthy. We mentioned
Speaker 1: Pickens before they got Cedee Lamb, so we got a
Speaker 1: partner for Cedee Lamb Brian Schottenheimer now that head coach
Speaker 1: of the Dallas Cowboys. So it sets up like this.
Speaker 1: Miami won in a football short week home against Dallas,
Speaker 1: and then you're going across the pond where you're gonna
Speaker 1: be the home team against Denver Broncos at Tottenham Hotspurs Stadium.
Speaker 1: And Denver is the team who's made the playoffs, it
Speaker 1: made the postseason last year. Yeah, So first six games
Speaker 1: you're playing four team teams that made the postseason last year.
Speaker 1: Pittsburgh and week one Buffalo. In Week two, Tampa on
Speaker 1: Week three, and then finally the Broncos in Week six.
Speaker 1: The other two games are at Miami divisional rival went
Speaker 1: eight to nine last year, and then the Cowboys, who
Speaker 1: have a lot of talent themselves. So for me, this
Speaker 1: six game stretch is awfully difficult.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, But and I think that'll be something that
Speaker 4: you talk about in the locker room. Is that or
Speaker 4: excuse me, in the meeting rooms?
Speaker 3: Is that? Listen?
Speaker 4: Guys like these are some playoff teams, are teams that
Speaker 4: made it to the playoffs last year, so we kind
Speaker 4: of get to gauge who we are this year. Obviously
Speaker 4: we have a whole new regime from the GM to
Speaker 4: the head coach to the coaches in general, but you
Speaker 4: kind of want to see, Okay, how do we measure
Speaker 4: up to these teams that know what it looks like
Speaker 4: to be in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I totally agree with that. So after that game
Speaker 1: against the Broncos, you come back home and you face
Speaker 1: the Carolina Panthers, and that's followed by gas against Cincinnati
Speaker 1: Bengals the Cleveland Browns and did I skip our bye here?
Speaker 1: Then you have a Thursday night actually after the Bengals,
Speaker 1: you have your buys. So the week nine by so
Speaker 1: it's Carolina followed by the Cincinnati Bengals. Who listen, Joe
Speaker 1: Burrow and those receivers.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just pay those guys too.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you gotta get after them defensively though, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: listen as far as the Jets are concerned.
Speaker 4: That's why you drafted a corner and brought in another corner, right,
Speaker 4: so you know you you you are ready for the
Speaker 4: test this year.
Speaker 1: Yeah, But offensively, you know, when you're looking at Cincinnati Bengals,
Speaker 1: I mean the way you envisioned the Jets right now? Ye,
Speaker 1: And I'm looking ahead the week nine on the schedule.
Speaker 1: I know it's crazy, but I'm just saying from a
Speaker 1: philosophical perspective, offensively, what do you think they want to be?
Speaker 4: To be honest with you, I think they do want
Speaker 4: to look like Detroit, you know. I think they're kind
Speaker 4: of going in that mold. When you think about the draft,
Speaker 4: when they drafted Arion Smith, I knew they wanted a
Speaker 4: speed guy, they wanted to burn it. They didn't have
Speaker 4: anybody like that on the roster, And now Detroit had
Speaker 4: a guy in Jamison William who's a little more than
Speaker 4: just speed, but he does have the speed, and that's
Speaker 4: something that they didn't have on the roster. So they
Speaker 4: want to look similar to that. You know, you have
Speaker 4: three great backs. Detroit had two really good backs, you know,
Speaker 4: so it's very much in that mold. The one big
Speaker 4: difference will be the quarterback and his ability to move. Now,
Speaker 4: how are they going to switch there? Tanner Ainstran is
Speaker 4: gonna have a little bit of a challenge because I
Speaker 4: don't think he's had a quarterback that can move like him.
Speaker 4: But that's a good challenge to have, you know. So
Speaker 4: I'm excited to see how they can incorporate that.
Speaker 1: Do you like fields as far as his opportunities in
Speaker 1: the play action game if you get the run game gone,
Speaker 1: because that's where Detroit completely excels. Yeah, where they started
Speaker 1: dominating the line, pushing guys off the line of scrimmage
Speaker 1: and then everybody was playing run and they go up top.
Speaker 3: Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 4: And and one other extra piece that they had was
Speaker 4: I talk about this repeatedly that they were a big
Speaker 4: yak team too. So you know, you get that play
Speaker 4: action pass and if you can't go deep, if you
Speaker 4: can get it to somebody in the short shallow routes.
Speaker 4: You know, you give him opportunity to make a big play.
Speaker 4: They've got some guys that can do that for you.
Speaker 4: So it should be a pretty big year. I really
Speaker 4: want to see how Corley steps up this year, right
Speaker 4: like being a draft pick last year not getting his opportunities.
Speaker 4: This is an offense that is kind of catered to
Speaker 4: his skill set. He's not an I'm mon Ross Saint
Speaker 4: Brown receiver, but he can at least look at that
Speaker 4: model and say, look, this is how I want to play.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's going to be fascinating because this is not
Speaker 1: the coaching staff that was here when he was.
Speaker 3: Drafted, not at all. That's always tough, but you.
Speaker 1: Know, he basically had a red shirt year last Year's
Speaker 1: second offense in as many years. But we should not
Speaker 1: forget him, forget about him when we're talking about the receivers. Okay,
Speaker 1: So after the buye Yah Cleveland at home, you have
Speaker 1: a road game against the New England Patriots. That's Thursday night,
Speaker 1: the New Patriots, and then you're coming back ten days
Speaker 1: later and you face the Baltimore Ravens. So that's gonna
Speaker 1: be a tough two games stretch on the road.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. In Cleveland, we don't even know, you know,
Speaker 4: what they're gonna look like.
Speaker 3: At quarterback.
Speaker 1: You're gonna be sure Sanders is gonna be Joe blackall
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 4: Now, I think when you look at the roster, I
Speaker 4: would like to see shutter standards, But we don't know
Speaker 4: what's gonna happen in that building. They got a lot
Speaker 4: of guys there.
Speaker 1: But in a stout defense Myles Garrett.
Speaker 4: Well, they've had a great defense for a while, so
Speaker 4: you know that that's that's no question there. You know,
Speaker 4: New England is a new that's a new team. Stephan
Speaker 4: Dizzy at that point will probably be healthy enough to
Speaker 4: beat Stephan Diggs, you know, so that'll be a different way.
Speaker 4: You know, they'll have another weapon for their quarterback. And
Speaker 4: then Baltimore is Baltimore. You know, so that's that's that's
Speaker 4: a that's a that's a tough stress there.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Baltimore. Lamar Jackson, he was not the MVP last year,
Speaker 1: but he easily could have been the m v P.
Speaker 1: And you're talking about a guy who man a dual threat.
Speaker 1: They just resigned King Henry in the backfield, they continue
Speaker 1: to load up on defense. I like that draft pick
Speaker 1: of Malchai starts one of the tougher places to play
Speaker 1: international football League. You mentioned Diggs before with New England
Speaker 1: coming back from injury. Yeah, you like that pick up
Speaker 1: for the Patriots.
Speaker 3: I think it's a it's a good safe pick, you know.
Speaker 3: I was.
Speaker 4: I think that you want to give your guy as
Speaker 4: many weapons as possible. You know, he ended up playing
Speaker 4: pretty well done the stretch last year. You know, they
Speaker 4: started off I think with Brissett, and then he came in.
Speaker 4: He showed himself, he showed he showed that he's you know,
Speaker 4: he's an adequate quarterback. So you know, you give him
Speaker 4: some more weapons, you know. I think that was one
Speaker 4: thing that was kind of missing for them last year.
Speaker 4: They didn't really have any weapons back there. So you know,
Speaker 4: now he's got some receivers or he's got a receiver,
Speaker 4: and I think they picked somebody else up as well.
Speaker 4: I'm not mistaken, Yes they did.
Speaker 1: I mean they made a ton of moves in offseasons.
Speaker 1: So I also wanted to ask you about you mentioned.
Speaker 1: You know, we're talking about Digs from a professional perspective
Speaker 1: on the field. He was at the garden the other
Speaker 1: night with Cardi b So.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I saw that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know, tis getting front row treatment.
Speaker 3: Yeah, in New York. We got to have our guys
Speaker 3: out there, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well Fields has been the MSG a few.
Speaker 3: Times, threw the ball around a little bit.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, so let's keep on rolling with
Speaker 1: the schedule. Here. We got through Baltimore and now we're
Speaker 1: going to go to at the atl Yeah, narrowly missed
Speaker 1: the playoffs last season, but you bring them up here.
Speaker 1: That's a team that plays inside. Yeah, here's a defensive
Speaker 1: coordinator that knows you very well on Jeff Albrick.
Speaker 4: Right, yeah, right, knows the roster in and out at
Speaker 4: this point, right outside of a couple of guys. Yeah, no,
Speaker 4: that'll be an interesting game, especially because Obrick is coming
Speaker 4: back here, right, So there's a good chance. One thing
Speaker 4: that I noticed when he was the head coach is
Speaker 4: that he now kind of took over a little bit
Speaker 4: more of the defense, and they were blitzing a lot,
Speaker 4: a lot, a lot more than they usually had. Whether
Speaker 4: that's because of the people on the roster at the
Speaker 4: time or because he felt like now he can do
Speaker 4: a little bit more of what he wanted to do.
Speaker 4: So you know, we're gonna have to watch out for that.
Speaker 4: You know, you've got to make sure that you're prepared
Speaker 4: that this guy might bring the house a little bit.
Speaker 1: Did you like Panis Yeah? Yeah, on small samples last year.
Speaker 3: You know, I liked it a little bit. I like,
Speaker 3: I liked what I saw.
Speaker 4: I didn't get to watch too much of them, but
Speaker 4: it's got He's from the same area as I am.
Speaker 3: Saw. You know, he already gets my support.
Speaker 1: Drake London he's coming on too.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, definitely.
Speaker 1: Okay, So after Atlanta, we run through a few games here. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we're already into December. We got Jets at Jaguars Travis Hunter,
Speaker 1: so he's gonna play on both sides of the ball.
Speaker 1: Is he gonna be seeing Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson?
Speaker 3: I don't think.
Speaker 4: I think you don't. You don't jump up to grab
Speaker 4: him if you're not going to use him in that way.
Speaker 4: You know, like they they they knew what they wanted
Speaker 4: out of them. So I think there's going to be
Speaker 4: you know, I think we're going to see some some
Speaker 4: crazy stuff.
Speaker 1: I skipped a return matchup with Miami because I was
Speaker 1: going back and forth here. Yeah, yeah, so Atlanta. Then
Speaker 1: you're home to Miami. That's a game where I circle
Speaker 1: on the calendar and say, you have to win. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you've won two in the past three at home against
Speaker 1: the Dolphins. You got them up here at your place
Speaker 1: in December. It's a divisional matchup. I like holme serve
Speaker 1: at home inside the AFC East. I just look at
Speaker 1: that one. It's like, let's take care of business.
Speaker 3: Definitely.
Speaker 4: And last year you think about how they lost in
Speaker 4: the overtime. You know, that's not something that you want
Speaker 4: to relive.
Speaker 1: So they didn't win at home in the season of Finelle.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so you got a little chip on your shoulder.
Speaker 4: I didn't talk about that when we talked about them
Speaker 4: in week four, but yeah, I think that's something to
Speaker 4: think about.
Speaker 1: So Jaggs, they got a first year head coach. So
Speaker 1: when you're talking about these next couple of games coming
Speaker 1: up December fourteenth and the twenty first, and even the
Speaker 1: twenty eighth, if you want to include that into the Yeah,
Speaker 1: Liam Coloran, Kellen Moore, Mike Rabel, they're all first year
Speaker 1: head coaches with the respected franchises. Obviously, Vrabel a lot
Speaker 1: of head coaching experience with the Tennessee Titans. But these
Speaker 1: are all teams that are starting out or are in transition.
Speaker 1: I would argue that the Patriots are further along than
Speaker 1: the Jaguars, and the Jaguars further along than the Saints.
Speaker 1: Saints look like on paper, that could be a team
Speaker 1: that has a top five pick next year.
Speaker 3: Yeah, they just lost Derek Carr too.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know when you look at it though, since
Speaker 4: we're talking about December, you know, at that point, you
Speaker 4: think that you're a little bit more set in who
Speaker 4: you are and who your identity is, so you would
Speaker 4: hope that it's not You're not going through those oh
Speaker 4: I got new coach mistakes at that point, I think
Speaker 4: everybody will kind of be solidified and like, this is
Speaker 4: who we are, this is our identity. But you never know,
Speaker 4: you know, sometimes things just don't go to way you
Speaker 4: want throughout the whole season.
Speaker 1: So you think Hunter's playing both sides.
Speaker 4: I think he's going to get opportunities to play both sides.
Speaker 4: Is he going to play consistent like he did in college?
Speaker 4: Dad is ridiculous in NFL, but he does it better. Man,
Speaker 4: He's ridiculous as a corner. Yeah, Like some of the
Speaker 4: plays he was making sitting in there. Yeah, there was
Speaker 4: a couple of plays that he's that I watched him,
Speaker 4: and it's like, that's like unguardable, I mean, excuse me,
Speaker 4: undefendable in terms of a quarterback being able to read
Speaker 4: that and know what to do.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: The guy is so rangy at receiver, I think it'll
Speaker 4: be easier for you to just kind of plug and
Speaker 4: play him than it is on defense. So I think
Speaker 4: personally I would put him on defense and they just
Speaker 4: kind of plug and play him on offense.
Speaker 1: Okay, and then Jets Bills. That's a final game at
Speaker 1: Buffalo's old stadium, high Mark Stadium, after a fifty three
Speaker 1: year run. So who knows what's going to be at
Speaker 1: stake at that point? Yeah, last couple of years. I
Speaker 1: don't even know if Buffalo has been playing for anything
Speaker 1: in that final week, right, But you finish up the
Speaker 1: season with two divisional games, prediction time.
Speaker 3: Let's do it.
Speaker 4: So, Yeah, what I think, Yeah, to be honest with you,
Speaker 4: I'm thinking about I think about the season. I think
Speaker 4: about what the past few seasons seven and ten, seven
Speaker 4: and ten, five and twelve, with high expectations, and now
Speaker 4: this is a very similar roster. My hope is that
Speaker 4: he can get nine and eight. Right, I'm looking at
Speaker 4: nine and eight. I don't think I think they'll just
Speaker 4: miss the playoffs. But I think if you talk about
Speaker 4: a guy like ag who comes from such a successful
Speaker 4: background in terms of being with the Lions, he knows what,
Speaker 4: he knows what to expect, he knows what he wants
Speaker 4: to see. This roster has the ability to be good
Speaker 4: this first year. But I don't think they are make
Speaker 4: a run through the playoffs just yet.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 4: I've never been to the playoffs, right, so I really
Speaker 4: don't know what it looks like personally, but I think
Speaker 4: that it'll be tough to bounce back from where they
Speaker 4: were and just be that team right now.
Speaker 1: But nine and eight would be something very big to
Speaker 1: build off for s year one hour program. Absolutely, when
Speaker 1: you're trying to instill a new culture.
Speaker 4: Absolutely, and I think you know you talk about the
Speaker 4: way the roster's built. One thing that I keep saying
Speaker 4: is that he's really expecting a lot from his coaches, right.
Speaker 4: He has a lot of confidence in his coaches. He
Speaker 4: wants everybody to get the most out of his players.
Speaker 1: Save your thoughts, yes, speak, We're going to take a break, yes,
Speaker 1: and then we're gonna come back and talk about the roster.
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty five New York Jets schedule, presented by
Speaker 1: Jeff blewis landed from now until Monday, May nineteenth, at
Speaker 1: nine fifty nine am. Visa cardholders have access to Purcher's
Speaker 1: single game tickets before they go on sale to the
Speaker 1: general public. Head to New York Jets dot com slash
Speaker 1: tickets now to lock in your seats at met Life
Speaker 1: Stadium this season. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, Quincy, you
Speaker 1: just mentioned a very important point when we were ending
Speaker 1: our schedule discussion. Aaron the philosophy with his coaching staff elaborate.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So you know, I think he's expecting a lot
Speaker 4: from his coaches. He wants them to get the most
Speaker 4: out of his players. When you look at some of
Speaker 4: the guys, whether it be the free agent acquisitions, right,
Speaker 4: you talk about Cisco, you talk about Stevens, both guys
Speaker 4: that everybody was like, oh, they didn't have great years
Speaker 4: last year, right. Think you talk about Aaron Smith in
Speaker 4: the draft, right, these are guys that you know, everybody's
Speaker 4: talking about their flaws, right, But ag sees something out
Speaker 4: of them, and I think every time he talks about them,
Speaker 4: he acknowledges maybe that they didn't do what they wanted
Speaker 4: to do last year, but also how talented they are underneath.
Speaker 4: And so that's that's big on coaching. I think about
Speaker 4: when I first got here, you know, there was a
Speaker 4: lot of knocks on me, not being able to catch
Speaker 4: the ball, all these not being able to run routes right.
Speaker 4: And I think one thing that really helped me was
Speaker 4: good coaching, right, coaches that believed in you but also
Speaker 4: knew how to get the technique out of you. So,
Speaker 4: you know, I think he's really crafted a coaching staff
Speaker 4: that can do that. Now this first year will be
Speaker 4: the test to see if they're really capable of doing that.
Speaker 4: But I'm looking forward to it because I think you
Speaker 4: don't put this much confidence in these guys if you
Speaker 4: don't believe in them.
Speaker 1: All Right, you played receiver. You just mentioned some of
Speaker 1: your experiences. Let's talk about a couple guys. We don't
Speaker 1: have to go inside the entire group. We know what
Speaker 1: Garrett can do. Yeah, that two spots hanging out there,
Speaker 1: dangling out there for fans and they've been circling that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: what do you see right now, as far as roster construction,
Speaker 1: who should be the two early on?
Speaker 3: Yeah?
Speaker 4: So, I mean I think right now everybody's talking about
Speaker 4: Alan Zard. He's been with a team longer. You know,
Speaker 4: he's got more experience being in New York. But I
Speaker 4: think Josh Reynolds will push him. I think there's the
Speaker 4: reason why they brought him here. They know what he's
Speaker 4: capable of. And I think he is of the two
Speaker 4: more consistent receiver, right and that's one of the biggest
Speaker 4: things you want from me number two. Now, Alan Lazard
Speaker 4: had a good showing the first few weeks before he
Speaker 4: had that injury, and you know, that was a pretty
Speaker 4: that was a pretty tough injury that he's not really
Speaker 4: spoken on. But it's have to come back from that
Speaker 4: and then go ahead and play at a high level again.
Speaker 4: But I would say, if he can bring that out
Speaker 4: and be consistent with that, and I think that's kind
Speaker 4: of been the biggest question with Alan REZARTI is are
Speaker 4: you going to be consistent. If he can do that,
Speaker 4: he'll be the number two. But right now, what I've
Speaker 4: seen from Josh Reynolds is he's capable of being at
Speaker 4: number two.
Speaker 1: Well, talk to us like one of the wide receiver role.
Speaker 1: What do you like about reynolds game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I like one thing I've seen while watching
Speaker 4: this film is that he's got consistent hands. He's able
Speaker 4: to get open on slant routes. You see him win
Speaker 4: multiple times in the red zone in the field. He's
Speaker 4: able to do that. He can go up and get
Speaker 4: the ball right. He just doesn't have that exceptional speed
Speaker 4: and he doesn't have that exceptional leaping ability, but he
Speaker 4: has those qualities that you need from a receiver that
Speaker 4: shows like, Okay, this guy is a consistent receiver. That
Speaker 4: The other side of it, though, is he didn't have
Speaker 4: many special teams reps. And this is a guy that
Speaker 4: was not fully on a roster all year and still
Speaker 4: didn't have a lot of special teams reps. So are
Speaker 4: you going to be able to pull a lot that
Speaker 4: pull that out of him? If not, then it's tough
Speaker 4: to put him at the three. So that's why I say, Okay,
Speaker 4: this guy is probably more of your two guy. He's
Speaker 4: able to run the rouse for you, he's able to
Speaker 4: get open, he can stress the field a little bit
Speaker 4: for you.
Speaker 3: Just so that Garrett wasn't gonna come underneath.
Speaker 1: Aaron Smith can streuss the field a lot.
Speaker 3: Oh yes, Aaron Smith is another guy really stretched.
Speaker 1: Okay, so what does Sean Jay Shawn Joffres have to
Speaker 1: work on with him? Is he attempts to make this
Speaker 1: transition because we know what he can do and what
Speaker 1: he struggled with because his speed, one of the faster
Speaker 1: guys in the National Football League, probably entering his career.
Speaker 1: But at the same time, the big knock on him
Speaker 1: last year coming out of Georgia, we all know what
Speaker 1: was the hints.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so this is what I say.
Speaker 4: I kind of did a little bit of research on him,
Speaker 4: and one thing is that all four years he was there,
Speaker 4: or at least the last four years Georgis had a
Speaker 4: different starting quarterback, So you don't really have a guy
Speaker 4: to grow with. And college is a position where some
Speaker 4: guys play receiver in high school for maybe four years, right,
Speaker 4: so you don't have a lot of you know, background
Speaker 4: in the receiver position. So once you get to college,
Speaker 4: you really want to have somebody that you can assistantly
Speaker 4: grow with.
Speaker 3: He didn't have that.
Speaker 4: On top of the fact that he was also doing
Speaker 4: track right like he was the All American in track.
Speaker 4: So I think when you get a guy in the
Speaker 4: building that you can now say, look, we're going to
Speaker 4: focus on football and this is your quarterback, like really
Speaker 4: get to know him and feel comfortable with him, you
Speaker 4: can change everything. Like again, I'll bring in my own
Speaker 4: experience in college. I had my senior year, I had
Speaker 4: three different quarterbacks, right, so hands was tough for me
Speaker 4: because I felt like I had the confidence to catch it.
Speaker 4: But it's hard when you have three different quarterbacks and
Speaker 4: you had to have confidence in those three guys. Sometimes
Speaker 4: you lose confidence in yourself trying to figure out what's
Speaker 4: going on so that may or may not be happening
Speaker 4: to him. But I think with coaching right, you can
Speaker 4: get these guys to focus on just being within yourself
Speaker 4: and stop worrying about all those other things. But also
Speaker 4: like all the other technique things that come with running around.
Speaker 1: I have two questions about fields. Do you like the
Speaker 1: dynamic that he played collegiately with Garrett, So there is
Speaker 1: a relationship already there. I know it's a few years
Speaker 1: ago when you go back to Ohio State, but it's
Speaker 1: not like, Hey, we're meeting each other for the first time,
Speaker 1: and can you speak to a wide receiver quarterback dynamic
Speaker 1: because something struck me the other day that Aaron Glenn
Speaker 1: said about Justin he's just not going to speak to speak.
Speaker 1: He will speak when he has to, and there's ways
Speaker 1: of communicating. So can you speak to that dynamic those two? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and also what you want from a quarterback that's your guy,
Speaker 1: that's the leader, because what we're hearing about Fields is
Speaker 1: he's really well respected and he can communicate quite well,
Speaker 1: but that doesn't mean he's the most vocal dude in
Speaker 1: the row.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, honestly, like, one thing that I personally
Speaker 4: appreciate about a quarterback is somebody's gonna get a little dirty,
Speaker 4: and a guy that's running the ball is going to
Speaker 4: have to get a little dirty, right, So I think
Speaker 4: that gains your respect, right if you go out there,
Speaker 4: you don't see anything there and you're gonna go get
Speaker 4: those tough yards, you know, and make those big plays.
Speaker 4: Honestly like that, because everybody wants to see a football
Speaker 4: player right like old school. As much as you love
Speaker 4: having a quarterback that can go out there and sling it, like,
Speaker 4: I love to see guys that just love to play football,
Speaker 4: right like whether or not. You could throw it, you
Speaker 4: could go out there and play. So personally that's a
Speaker 4: big plus for me. But in terms of just that
Speaker 4: relationship with having a guy from college, like man, college
Speaker 4: is like it's so different from me even the NFL
Speaker 4: because you're just so close to people, right, like you know,
Speaker 4: sometimes you be in the same dorms or all these
Speaker 4: different things. It's just you don't have your outside family.
Speaker 3: Everybody.
Speaker 4: Your family is the team. So that's a relationship that
Speaker 4: goes long past college. So I think no matter what,
Speaker 4: they're gonna have that relationship and it's gonna be good
Speaker 4: just to kind of go out there and have that together.
Speaker 1: On the other side of the ball. Quickly, you mentioned
Speaker 1: Cisco and Stevens before they also took a z Thomas
Speaker 1: Yep in the third round on of Florida State. Do
Speaker 1: you like what Aaron's saying here in terms of what
Speaker 1: he wants from his cornerback, from a guy who played
Speaker 1: the receiver position, because we're seeing the prototype that he wants.
Speaker 1: He wants big dudes on the outside, physical, their hands
Speaker 1: on people and can play man.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4: I mean I think when he on the draft call,
Speaker 4: he told him the choke guys or something like that. Right,
Speaker 4: So yeah, I mean, listen, he's got a guy that
Speaker 4: he can model his game after and sauce a guy
Speaker 4: that he can really learn a lot from. But one
Speaker 4: thing I saw about Az is that he's a long,
Speaker 4: physical guy. He loves to get his hands on guys.
Speaker 4: And you know, he may not have the speed, I
Speaker 4: think that's one thing that people were talking about. But
Speaker 4: if you can slow down the route, that's huge. I mean,
Speaker 4: the biggest thing is timing with the receivers in the quarterback.
Speaker 3: So if you're.
Speaker 4: Messing up the timing because you're keeping the guy in
Speaker 4: position in space in that space for a second, right,
Speaker 4: that turns off the timing. And unless the quarterback is like,
Speaker 4: you know, forget it, you know, f it ball right,
Speaker 4: Like I'm just gonna throw it to my guy. Anyways,
Speaker 4: he's got to go to the next guy, you know.
Speaker 4: So the biggest thing there with the corner position is
Speaker 4: the d line that pass rush has to get to
Speaker 4: the quarterback and make it hard.
Speaker 1: But ag in his time as defensive coordinator with Detroit Lions,
Speaker 1: Steve Wilks, Yeah, throughout his career, they're both known for
Speaker 1: bringing the heat in numbers, So those guys are going
Speaker 1: to be asked, They're going to be asked to play
Speaker 1: be played. Play it on an island. Yeah, yeah, you're
Speaker 1: alone there, Q.
Speaker 4: It's the perfect combination there. I think as long as
Speaker 4: you have a know, a good pass rush, I don't
Speaker 4: think speed is as important at the corner position. If
Speaker 4: you can make sure you can just kind of mess
Speaker 4: things up.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Lastly, before we get to OTAs, is this the perfect
Speaker 1: spot for Sauce Gardner right now in his career, entering
Speaker 1: his fourth year? Because you mentioned Aaron's faith and the
Speaker 1: coaching staff and how they're gonna coach people up. You
Speaker 1: not only have Aaron Glenn here, you have Steve Wilkes,
Speaker 1: who's specialty before he long before his calling plays, was
Speaker 1: the defensive backfield. You have Chris Harris here, you have
Speaker 1: dre BLYI here. Is this the perfect spot for Sauce
Speaker 1: right now?
Speaker 4: Absolutely? I think for Sauce is gonna be for him.
Speaker 4: I don't think that he has an ego, but it's
Speaker 4: just going to be about dropping any ego he has
Speaker 4: because a lot of coaches will come in and they'll
Speaker 4: know that this guy, I mean, rookie of the year right,
Speaker 4: all those different accolades that he has, and they'll be like, Okay,
Speaker 4: I don't have to too much. Some guys might push
Speaker 4: you in as a as a guy that kind of
Speaker 4: has a lot of confidence in your ability, you have
Speaker 4: to be willing to be coached, you know. And even
Speaker 4: those year four he's a vet, you know, and so
Speaker 4: he knows exactly what he needs to do. He also
Speaker 4: has to be willing to say, hey, listen, I don't
Speaker 4: know everything you know. Let me go ahead and listen
Speaker 4: to what you have to say.
Speaker 1: Let's say your quick break and I want to get
Speaker 1: your final thoughts here on OTAs Official Jets Podcast is
Speaker 1: presented by Kendrick Scott, the jewelry company That's shiny brighton
Speaker 1: doing good, shop Game Day Ready, jewelry stories and so
Speaker 1: much more at kendrickscott dot com. Ota is coming up. Man,
Speaker 1: It's unbelievable how quickly the off season is flown by
Speaker 1: the Jets. Start of the off season with searches for
Speaker 1: a GM and a head coach heiror Aaron Glenn, then
Speaker 1: Darren Mougi, we see how they operate in free agency.
Speaker 1: The draft is behind us. Now, what are you looking
Speaker 1: forward to? In terms of OTAs.
Speaker 4: Uh, you know you kind of I want to see
Speaker 4: because I know OTAs are now where you can kind
Speaker 4: of go against the defense, right, so you get that
Speaker 4: opportunity to kind of see how do I match up
Speaker 4: against the d You know you got You've been able
Speaker 4: to watch them on the other field a little bit,
Speaker 4: but now it's like, okay, it's mono imano, let's get
Speaker 4: this little test in, especially those young guys, right, Like
Speaker 4: you got a young corner as a receiver, you got
Speaker 4: a young corner over there, right, You've got some corners
Speaker 4: from another team, and Brandon Stevens, right, So you just
Speaker 4: kind of want to see how you measure up going
Speaker 4: into uh, now OTS and then training camp.
Speaker 1: What's it like for rookie coming in? It was just
Speaker 1: drafted a couple of weeks ago, and now we're out
Speaker 1: here practicing.
Speaker 3: And it's weird.
Speaker 4: I'm not gonna lie to you, like I throw myself
Speaker 4: back in that position. And when I think about when
Speaker 4: I was going through OTS, I mean we had Mike
Speaker 4: Vick out there right, Like, I mean it was just
Speaker 4: so many uh we didn't have read that yet, but
Speaker 4: we did have Chrimarti out there, right, so guys that
Speaker 4: you grew up watching like that you were watching in college,
Speaker 4: now you're playing. Eric Decker was there too, So it's
Speaker 4: it's it's a little bit of like okay, I got
Speaker 4: to get through that shock of like like okay, yo,
Speaker 4: these guys are my teammates, and then it's like, okay,
Speaker 4: now let's work for real.
Speaker 1: Even as a young buck, because you dudes come out
Speaker 1: of college, you know a lot of times like hey man,
Speaker 1: I'm the man.
Speaker 3: Well I was a six round drafted, like I barely
Speaker 3: got drafted, you know. So to me, it's like I
Speaker 3: got a lot to work.
Speaker 4: And we had three we drafted three receivers that year,
Speaker 4: so those two guys ahead of me, I felt like
Speaker 4: they had the spot right. I had confidence in my ability,
Speaker 4: but also knew like that I had a tougher role
Speaker 4: to make, you know, so you kind of have to
Speaker 4: get through that and then also obviously what I talked
Speaker 4: about before.
Speaker 3: But yeah, it's just work. You know.
Speaker 4: You try your hardest to make sure you get the
Speaker 4: playbook down. Like every day is like let me make
Speaker 4: sure I know what I'm doing, because it's not a
Speaker 4: lot of reps.
Speaker 1: Do you think it's advantageous for a guy like Mason
Speaker 1: Taylor to have a pops. Jason Taylor's a Hall of
Speaker 1: Famer in our league. Now he's coaching defensive line for Miami,
Speaker 1: of course, but yeah, giving him tips about what's.
Speaker 3: To come, Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4: I Mean, the NFL loves pedigree, right, they love pedigree,
Speaker 4: So you know, I think ultimately there's a reason behind that.
Speaker 4: You know, you get to see, like I imagine, I
Speaker 4: imagine putting myself in Jason Taylor's shoes, right and getting
Speaker 4: to give him so much game because I knew what
Speaker 4: the NFL looks like, I know what it feels like
Speaker 4: to make it to this point. So it's you just
Speaker 4: have a leg up again above everybody else.
Speaker 1: What do you think about Mason what you saw on
Speaker 1: tape at LSU.
Speaker 4: Oh Man, great hands, great hands. One of those that
Speaker 4: was one of the biggest things I saw was like,
Speaker 4: when the ball comes to him, you know he sticks it. Now,
Speaker 4: He's not a guy I didn't see like, you know,
Speaker 4: he was making like contested catches right like, but I
Speaker 4: saw that when the ball came to him, it didn't
Speaker 4: feel like, even if he was open, that he was
Speaker 4: going to drop the ball.
Speaker 3: That was one of the biggest things.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 4: He not as much wiggles as a as a as
Speaker 4: a ball carrier. But I'm looking forward to seeing what
Speaker 4: they do with him because I know that he has
Speaker 4: some receivers around him, so he didn't get an opportunity
Speaker 4: and college tight ends like if you're not a guy
Speaker 4: where there you're the feature guy, you don't really get
Speaker 4: to you don't really get to show who you are,
Speaker 4: not only as a pass catcher but also everything else.
Speaker 1: You know, So it's a fair point. I'm going to
Speaker 1: put you under the gun here, so to speak. Yeah,
Speaker 1: before we get back to just thinking about you, when
Speaker 1: you're talking about some of the receivers and what you
Speaker 1: like about Reynolds and Lazard coming back and the restructure
Speaker 1: and the Jets draft Mason Taylor, who's gonna be the
Speaker 1: target that gets the second most targets behind Garrett Wilson
Speaker 1: on this offense.
Speaker 4: M that's a good question. I mean, we have to see.
Speaker 1: You don't have to have the answer right now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't think. I don't think I do.
Speaker 4: I generally don't because I think what I need to
Speaker 4: do is I want to see OTAs. I want to
Speaker 4: see training camp. That's how I know, like, Okay, who's
Speaker 4: really stepping up in this offense?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 4: Because again we talk about quarterbacks and you know, why
Speaker 4: didn't this guy perform? Well, why didn't this guy have success?
Speaker 4: And a lot of it is the scheme, right, So
Speaker 4: who's going to step up in this scheme? I can
Speaker 4: say what I think guys do outside of this scheme,
Speaker 4: But how do you show up when the players are
Speaker 4: called and annou it's your turn to make a play?
Speaker 1: How you approaching this spring if you are, because this
Speaker 1: is a different situation. Now you are the guy, and
Speaker 1: not only you are the guys coming in as a
Speaker 1: rookie with Chicago where your head's kind of spinning, but
Speaker 1: you're the guy and you can have a few years
Speaker 1: under your belt in this organization is saying hey man,
Speaker 1: we're embracing you, we're giving you the rock, and we
Speaker 1: want you to be central command of the offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, I don't think he's really had that since
Speaker 4: he first started in Chicago. And when you think about Chicago,
Speaker 4: he had multiple coordinators, right, so it was a lot
Speaker 4: of inconsistency there. So I think for him it's got
Speaker 4: to be exciting to know that the team paid me
Speaker 4: to be the starter. They have confidence in me as
Speaker 4: a starter, they're getting me weapons. I think you approach
Speaker 4: it as though you know this is a new start, right,
Speaker 4: Like you've seen guys be able to like we talked
Speaker 4: about Baker Mayfield. You've seen guys be able to do that.
Speaker 4: Now you've got to go and prove that they did
Speaker 4: the right thing and bringing you here, What do.
Speaker 1: You expect from Aaron in terms of being on the grass.
Speaker 1: That's one thing that he's always talked about. He brings
Speaker 1: so much energy. This is a guy who scouted you.
Speaker 1: Just now he's going to have everybody here. For the
Speaker 1: first dove you could see how energetic and lively he
Speaker 1: was here just for rookie mini camps. But now OTAs
Speaker 1: is taking it up another step and then our next
Speaker 1: step is training camp.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing how he is as
Speaker 4: a coach. You know, you got to see it a
Speaker 4: little bit on the hard knocks kind of his attitude
Speaker 4: and mentality. Now, one thing we saw was he was
Speaker 4: barking back and forth with who was a duce? Day
Speaker 4: was the other for the running back coach? Who was
Speaker 4: I forgotten? But I think somebody. I know it was
Speaker 4: a former Saints running back, but yeah, man, so it'll
Speaker 4: be cool. Who's going to be his opponent now, Like
Speaker 4: who's going to be barking back and forth with because
Speaker 4: that energy, that competitive fire is cool to see that
Speaker 4: it's stayed there because that's something that you experienced as
Speaker 4: a player. To him to have as a coach, I
Speaker 4: want to see if he still has as a head coach.
Speaker 1: Yeah, he said it during Rocky Mini camp. They said,
Speaker 1: you know you're used to having your group. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: a secondary group in New Orleans from sixteen to twenty
Speaker 1: under Sean Payton, and then he goes with Dan Campbell
Speaker 1: to Detroit and then it's more like twenty three guys,
Speaker 1: I got the defense now with everybody right, So Aaron
Speaker 1: could be he can watch quarterbacks over here. Maybe in
Speaker 1: the next drill he's gonna be looking at the linebacker.
Speaker 1: Maybe the last group he's gonna look at now is
Speaker 1: the secondary. Or maybe he starts the secondary and then
Speaker 1: jumps around right.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean, listen, this is a new spot for him.
Speaker 4: This is a new opportunity. I think in the beginning
Speaker 4: he might catch himself maybe too much in a defense
Speaker 4: and he'll have to kind of just every day kind
Speaker 4: of takeing a just kind of an examination of Okay,
Speaker 4: where have I been the most and how can I
Speaker 4: make sure that I'm spending myself around and making sure
Speaker 4: everybody feels my presence.
Speaker 1: You like the hires at those important positions, and these
Speaker 1: are guys that we're gonna get to know a lot
Speaker 1: better here in the next couple of weeks and months.
Speaker 1: But you got Wilkes who's got head coaching experience. I've
Speaker 1: been calling defensive plays for Roberts, so he can lean
Speaker 1: on him if he's got any questions from a head
Speaker 1: coach perspective. Engstrand, he was a very valuable piece that
Speaker 1: Detroit offense. I asked Ben Johnson about him at league
Speaker 1: meetings in Palm Beach and he said, well, he got
Speaker 1: involved in everything we were doing here offensively, passing game coordinator,
Speaker 1: calling the shots now and Chris Banjo talk about energy.
Speaker 3: Dude. Yeah, oh my god, he was playing when I
Speaker 3: was playing. He still can play, definitely. Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, it's cool to see that, you know, guys, uh,
Speaker 4: that he's given young guys an opportunity, right like, not
Speaker 4: just Tanner Ekstra, because that's a guy that climbed the ladder,
Speaker 4: but climbed it pretty quickly.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 4: He passing game coordinators in that officer corner. He took
Speaker 4: the same route to Ben Johnson. But Chris Banjo is
Speaker 4: a guy that you know I was playing when I
Speaker 4: was playing. Now he's special teams coordinator. That's a big
Speaker 4: spot to be at. Man, Special teams really changes the game.
Speaker 4: We've seen that over and over again last year missing kicks, right,
Speaker 4: There's so many different aspects of the special teams game
Speaker 4: that are important to win. So you know, to be
Speaker 4: exciting to see that.
Speaker 1: Thanks, man, this was fun. What's going on with you?
Speaker 1: You got the camp company?
Speaker 4: Off, got the California Yes, sir, so that'll be fun
Speaker 4: and I love that those opportunities to see the kids
Speaker 4: having fun on the field.
Speaker 1: And what do you do as far as the camp
Speaker 1: is concerns.
Speaker 3: You know, just it's free. It's free.
Speaker 4: Everybody gets an opportunity to California, the Southern California. Baby,
Speaker 4: we at ten o'clock, ten to two. I appreciate the
Speaker 4: shout out for me, and you know, it's just fun.
Speaker 4: The opportunity to go out there at my old high
Speaker 4: school joining with them. And everybody just wants to go
Speaker 4: out and learn some football. I have some guys coming
Speaker 4: back as well, high school Rancho Verdet And what's the date,
Speaker 4: June seventh, June.
Speaker 1: Seventh, So if you're out there in southern California, sign up.
Speaker 1: Baby will take care of you. Being learned from Jets legends, Yes.
Speaker 3: I appreciate it. Thank you,