Jets Wrap up First day of OTA’s

It may not be real football, but Jets fans are still excited (as they should be) to get any morsel of Jets football they can on the first day of the team’s first full team OTA of the off-season.

A few notes we gathered from the twitterverse with some commentary of our own:

According to Rich Cimini of ESPN New York, rookie quarterback Sam Darnold had a rough day, completing just two of 10 passes during team periods to go along with a couple of sacks.  <insert snarky “don’t panic” line here>

Cimini also said that free agent addition Teddy Bridgewater moved well during team drills and looked sharp throwing the ball.  A positive development for what many believe is a future trade chip.

Knowing that this team has gone from John Idzik’s QB depth chart of Geno Smith, Mike Vick and Matt Simms to Darnold, Bridgewater, Josh McCown and (for now) Christian Hackenberg brings a smile to our collective faces.  More on that here.

The biggest addition of this off-season outside of Darnold was cornerback Trumaine Johnson, who apparently made his presence known early on.

Trumaine Johnson picked off Josh McCown on the second rep of team drills. McCown looked for Hansen on corner route #Jets

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) May 22, 2018

This note from Dennis Waszak Jr. of the associated press is positive in that the money given to linebacker Kevin Pierre-Louis wasn’t crazy (2 yrs/$6 million) until you see he’s an edge defender who has never registered a single sack in four pro seasons.  That’s a lot of money for a guy who will only play on special teams, so you have to imagine the Jets have a larger role in mind for the former Chief.

Kevin Pierre-Louis with a nice, athletic INT of Teddy Bridgewater in 7-on-7s. Got hand on shortvpass, tipped it up and caught it. #Jets

— Dennis Waszak Jr. (@DWAZ73) May 22, 2018

If undrafted free agent linebacker Anthony Wint turns out to be any good, Jets fans should offer a tip of the cap to Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News.  Mehta has singled out Wint as an impressive player during rookie OTA’s and now again today.  No other writer has made mention of Wint thus far, but he’s clearly a Mehta favorite.

Jets are rotating Henry Anderson & Nathan Shepard with the starting defensive line.
Keep an eye on undrafted ILB Anthony Wint…. who is getting reps with the starters in team drills. Jets really like this kid.

— Manish Mehta (@MMehtaSports) May 22, 2018

Second-year receiver Chad Hansen is hoping to see a bigger chunk of playing time this season and it looks as if he may be off to a good start in opening a few eyes.

Chad Hansen just made Morris Claiborne looked silly with a juke. Offense went wild. #Jets

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) May 22, 2018

Another second-year player who is looking to get attention for reasons other than on-field performance is linebacker Dylan Donahue who has had multiple DUI’s since being drafted by Gang Green.  Donahue has apparently reached out to former Jets TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins who had some alcohol issues of his own.  Lip service or the real deal?  Only time will tell.

Dylan Donahue spoke to media today. Cut alcohol entirely out of his system after his 30 days in rehab. Connected with former #Jets TE Austin Seferian-Jenkins during the process for advice.

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) May 22, 2018

It looks like rookie tight end Chris Herndon made a great catch from Bridgewater, showing some of the traits that led the Jets to take him in round four of the draft.

Play of practice thus far: Bridgewater with a beautiful back-shoulder completion to Chris Herndon down the seam. Threw it where only TE could get it. Herndon then made a great catch #Jets

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) May 22, 2018

Along the defensive line, the team rotated out rookie lineman Nathan Shepherd and newly acquired Henry Anderson during team periods.

Keep an eye on one of the many Jets beat writers for live updates from Florham park, or follow one of the many fans or bloggers who will re-word those same tweets while pretending to be there themselves.

Glenn Naughton

Glenn was Born in the Bronx, New York and has followed the Jets religiously despite being stationed in several different countries and time zones around the world. He now resides in England and has been a JetNation member since 2005. Glenn will bleed green with the rest of us through the highs and lows.

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