E-Boland & Gang Green

Things are dark at Hofstra, at least on the practice field, until late July when training camp starts. The Jets finished their minicamp Saturday, the conclusion of offseason activities that started in early May with the rookie minicamp. The media did not get to see all of these practices over the past 40 days or so, but we did see parts of the rookie minicamp, a handful of OTA practices, and all four practices comprising the two-day minicamp. Certainly not enough to make any regular-season predictions, but enough for me to make some observations. Besides, as Darrell might put it, “C’mon Boland, what else do you have to do?”

Well, I should be on the beach (see above picture, if you already haven't)...but I digress. Or, as Bob Glauber would probably say, regress.

A note before starting: I will mention the phrase “non-contact” several times here because certain aspects of certain positions (such as how quick someone is getting to the QB) are impossible to judge during non-contact drills. Pads don’t, and can’t by league rule, come on until training camp.

1. The QBs, Part I,II,III, IV….: All the talk about FA signings and the draft and the secondary and everything else becomes irrelevant if the Jets don’t have someone who can throw the ball. It is an open competition between Kellen Clemens and Chad Pennington and after the past month-plus, I’d give a slight edge to Clemens, but very slight. Clemens was better during the OTA practices we saw, Pennington had the advantage, again a small one, in the minicamp.
What the last month showed is what even casual Jets fans already knew: Clemens has a stronger arm but still seems to struggle with his decision making - happy feet at times - and Pennington looks best throwing short passes. Don’t get too carried away with the Pennington-changing-his-motion story, either. He is trying to incorporate more body and less arm-only into his passes and I will say there seemed to be a little more velocity on Pennington’s mid-range throws (e.g. 12-15 yard throws over the middle). But there didn’t seem to be much difference on the deep throws, though there were a couple of nice deep fades. His motion has been “tweaked,” but it’s not an outright alteration. Bottom line: The Jets know what they have in Pennington: a solid quarterback who can get them to the playoffs – as he’s done before – if he’s surrounded with the right pieces. This competition isn’t about Pennington showing anything new; it’s about Clemens going out and leaving no doubt about whom the better quarterback is. These non-contact drills can't determine that. The real competition begins in July.

2. Will Pennington/Clemens have anyone to throw to? Laveranues Coles and Jerricho Cotchery both seem to have a renewed spring in their step (yes, I hate that cliché, too), but the interesting part of the last month has been watching the receivers who are trying to prove themselves. Second-year man Chansi Stuckey caught just about everything and goes to training camp as the No. 3 receiver. Brad Smith was limited during the OTAs with a sore back but returned for the minicamp and looked good in spots. Overall the receiving corps looked fine - Coles made a couple of one-handed catches that stood out - but there still isn’t a consistent deep threat in the group.

3. More on who catches the ball: Rookie Dustin Keller lined up all over the place and had only one day where he looked like a rookie. He runs fluid routes, has good hands and one thing that became apparent during the practices was that linebackers probably won’t be able to cover him. On the last day of minicamp we got to see the Jets two first-rounders match up. Keller ran a short out to the sideline and made the catch in front of Vernon Gholston, who had dropped into coverage, for a six-yard pickup. [For the record, Gholston did contribute on a pass defense later in that same Friday practice, dropping back to help cover Stuckey at the goal line]. As for Gholston, he was only on the field two practices - because of Ohio State’s academic calendar that extends into June - and lined up with the second team on the outside. Not much of a sampling read one way or another, though I like what I’ve seen of his speed, and his biceps indicate he’s the only one on the team who can give Thomas Jones a run in the weight room.

4. And still more on the rookies: Sixth-round pick Marcus Henry showed improvement over the course of the month-plus. At the beginning of the OTA’s he was running mostly with the third team and didn’t stand out other than for his height (6-4). But by the two-day minicamp Henry was running some with the second team and on the first day of the camp, Thursday, Henry caught two long passes. On the first one, Henry made a nice grab on a Pennington 20-yard pass along the sideline, coming down with the ball between fellow rookie Dwight Lowery and James Ihedigbo. Later in the day Henry went over Lowery, who had decent coverage, to snare a 30-yarder from Clemens on the sideline. Henry’s college coach, Mark Mangino, said draft day that the Jets got a “steal,” and the limited snapshot we got of Henry showed he might be right. As for Lowery, he showed some of the ball skills that earned him the nickname “Dwight Swipe” at San Jose State.

5. Big $ on the O-line: The Jets added Alan Faneca and Damien Woody and so the starting offensive line, a huge problem last year, looked like this during OTAs and minicamp: LT D’Brickashaw Ferguson, LG Faneca, C Nick Mangold, RG Brandon Moore, RT Woody. Faneca is an all-pro and Woody is solid, and the biggest question for training camp and beyond is whether Ferguson is ready develop into the elite tackle the Jets envisioned when they drafted him. Difficult to evaluate offensive linemen during non-contact drills but Ferguson looks a little lighter on his feet and I’ve seen him talking on the sideline an awful lot to Faneca, who obviously plays a different position but knows as much about line play as anyone. And don’t underestimate the impact the hyper-intense Bill Callahan is going to have on the offensive line. Nebraskans have their own opinions about Callahan but this is a specialty of his.

6. TJ’s Touches: There are a lot of motivated Jets because of last year, none more so than RB Thomas Jones, who came into 2007 with much fanfare and didn’t have the kind of season he, or anyone else, was expecting. He’s as excited as anyone about the additions to the offensive line, which last year gave him few holes to run through. Yes, the Jets have what seems an overload of backs – Jones, Leon Washington, Jesse Chatman, Musa Smith, etc. – but make no mistake, Jones is the featured back and, at least in these non-contact drills, has very much looked the part. One surprise from this big group of backs has been the speed of Chatman.

7. And about that second CB: Early on in the OTA’s David Barrett started opposite Darrelle Revis and the comments and emails that expressed some, to put it mildly, concern began to roll in. [An aside: Barrett has recently put up his Melville home for sale. My boss, sports editor, Hank Winnicki, emailed me this yesterday and I saw it on thejetsblog this morning, with the comment, “see what being a bad NFL CB can get you?” The tireless, and often hilarious, Brian Bassett strikes again].
Anyway, the athletic Justin Miller, who is coming off major knee surgery, started as the No. 2 corner the latter portion of OTA practices and all four minicamp practices, though Barrett still shared some of those snaps. It would be stunning if Miller isn’t the starter for the regular season opener. It bears repeating: Miller is being brought along slowly and the Jets clearly didn’t see a need to have Miller overexert himself in May and early June. Overall, however, if Miller can’t win this job, be afraid. Be very afraid. As for the safeties, Kerry Rhodes and Eric Smith started the entire month. Abram Elam, who missed the first week of OTAs dealing with yet another horrific family tragedy, should not be counted out in terms of winning that job from Smith.

8. The Chris Baker situation: I pass for now. There will be plenty of time in the near future to go through this story, which has become tiresome already. But it is news, especially when Baker, as he said last week, makes a comment saying that last year’s Kendall circus helped “tank” 2007. One way or another, the Jets FO can’t let this go deep into August like the Kendall case did.

9. Another big Kris story: And we mean big, though not as big as before. Eric Mangini had one of the lines of the offseason when he said of Kris Jenkins, “he makes 360 look good.” And considering Jenkins ballooned to about 400 pounds last year with Carolina, Mangini was right. Just as important, Jenkins is enthusiastic, at least at this point, about playing nose in the Jets 3-4 scheme, doing all the dirty work required of what can be an unglamorous position. A weight clause is part of Jenkins’ contract but as of now it’s not an issue. Attitude-wise, Jenkins is a clear upgrade from Dewayne Robertson and it’s hard to see how he won’t be an upgrade in performance, either.

10. Handicapping the punter battle: Ben Graham vs. Jeremy Kapinos probably has been a draw to this point, though overall I’d give a small advantage to Kapinos, who has shown a stronger leg. Graham looked flat out bad in a couple of early OTA practices we saw, but was better as May went along and his minicamp was solid, particularly when it came to placing the ball inside the 20.

11. I’m sure I didn’t cover 100 percent of everything you all were interested in so, as always, post any questions in the comments section and I’ll get to them. Between rounds of golf (that's for you, Bryan).