He's Gonna Be Here

Edition #365

Good morning! ☀️

With those four little words, Joe Douglas settled the nerves of many a Jets fan. I’ve never spoken to Douglas personally but he strikes me as the kind of man who never says anything he doesn’t mean, even when he’s had a beer or two, which he obviously had at the WFAN Sports event on Friday.

I wasn’t going to send a newsletter today with it being a bank holiday, but I thought I’d get some quick notes out to just cover some stories from the weekend and then we’ll be right back to normal tomorrow.

I’ve got some workout notes on some prospects that I wanted to share, so they’re all in the list below. Now I have a little more time on my hands, I’m going to be reaching out to prospects this week to see how visits went. Jermaine Johnson was the first guy to respond last year about how his visit went so we’ll see who’s first this year and if they end up a Jet.

🏈 The Jets made the Thomas Morestead signing official at the weekend, welcoming back a player who impressed in 7 games with the Jets in 2021. He spent the 2022 season with the Miami Dolphins where he averaged 46.4 yards per punt. He also had 28 punts downed inside the 20, with just 2 rolling into the end zone for a touchback. I’d make Morestead the favorite for the punting job over Braden Mann.

📸 OBJ was scheduled to fly into New York today to meet with the Jets. It was reported that the Jets would give him a physical to ensure he's fully recovered from the injury that kept him out of the 2022 season. But like Calais Campbell, he signed elsewhere before he got here. OBJ is heading to Baltimore on a one-year deal worth up to $18 million with $15 million guaranteed, a lot of money, more money than the Jets could or should offer. He gave the Jets a chance to match according to multiple reports and the Jets wisely declined

💰 Over the weekend the Titans signed Jeffrey Simmons to a 4-year $94 million contract with $66 million guaranteed. Why is that important for the Jets? Well, that contract is probably going to look a lot like the one Quinnen Williams signs. Quinnen had better numbers across the board so I’d expect it to be higher with more guarantees. The Jet’s off-season program starts on April 17th and Quinnen indicated at the end of the season that if a deal was not in place, he would be skipping the workouts. Now I’m sure slipping voluntary workouts won’t alter the Jet’s plan, but I think we’d all like to see if gets done sooner rather than later. We don’t want this dragging into mandatory camp and there being questions about whether he’ll hold out.

🧀 Allen Lazard, who signed a free-agent deal with the Jets posted some images on Friday showing him working out with Aaron Rodgers, who’s set to be the Jets starting QB this year. In an interview with TMZ he was asked if there were any concerns about the Rodgers deal not getting done: “No, there’s no worry on my end, Especially knowing that Aaron has his full-on commitment to be a New York Jet this year, and just kind of realizing it’s really on the guys upstairs to handle the business side of things and figure out what’s payable or compromisable for this whole thing to go down.”

🔴⚪ The Jets held a private workout with Harvard defensive end Truman Jones, a player that’s generating significant interest. Jones is a 6’4, 242lb defensive end who ended last season with 42 pressures and 8 sacks. He led the Ivy League with 13 tackles for a loss and captained the Crimson If he was to hear his name called on draft night, he’d be just the 16th player from Harvard to be drafted and the first since center Cole Toner in 2016.

🐯 The Jets are also hosting LSU defensive end B.J Ojulari who’s the brother of Azeez Ojulari and was taken in the 2nd round of the 2021 draft by the Giants. Ojulari is a stand-up edge rusher with plenty of burst, he recorded 49 pressures and 9 sacks in the 2022 season. Most draft analysts agree that he has the raw tools, he just needs some more polish, and better effort and consistency against the run.

🆙 The Jets have now met with John Michael Schmitz at least 4 times. They had a combine visit, they brought him in for a private visit, they worked him out privately and they also met him at the Minnesota pro-day. I’ve also been told that there are plans for them to talk again before the draft. JMS makes so much sense for the Jets, it just depends if they’re in a position to take him, they’re certainly very interested.

🙌 Here’s a name that you probably haven’t heard, it was a new one for me. The Jets met with offensive tackle Joey Fisher of Shepherd, a 6’5 322lb three-year starter on the offensive line. I’ve only ever seen highlights and all I can say is that there were more pancakes on that highlight tape than at IHOP. He was obviously a lot better than a lot of guys he was facing and it’s good to see the Jets reaching far and wide.

🔵⚪ Utah State safety Hunter Reynolds had a workout with the Jets on Friday. Reynolds is listed at 6”0’, 200 lbs, and enjoyed a productive 2022 season with 92 tackles, 7 PDs, 3 INTs, and 2.5 TFL. He spent over 400 snaps at free safety last year but can play in the box as well. He's definitely an interesting name and would be a value selection later in the draft.