Good morning! ☀️
Welcome to the weekend. We’re going to get into a few topics today but it feels good to say that this weekend is the last weekend without MLB baseball for months and months. I’m looking forward to getting into the Mets, and if you want TJW for the Mets, make sure you head over to Mets Fix.
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Today we’re going to touch on OBJ and the possibility of him joining the Jets. Some players who are still lucky to be on the roster and a few other bits of news and notes, including an update on Mecole Hardman’s recovery from injury.
👨⚕️ Mecole Hardman met with the media yesterday and confirmed he was around 3 weeks out from surgery on his groin, and he’s hoping he will be ready for OTA’s. It doesn’t sound as though he’s in danger of missing any real-time this off-season and will be ready for training camp which is key. He also mentioned that he doesn’t believe the surgery will impact his speed.
✍️ Interestingly when he was asked about the impact the prospect of Aaron Rodgers on his signing with the Jets, he spoke about the foundation the Jets were building and the talent they already have at the position in Garrett Wilson and Allen Lard, he said it was just a good situation for him.
💨 Spoke about how he can do more than just jet sweeps and quick hit passes, and he hopes to showcase that this year. He mentioned that he’s open to returning kicks and punts and being utilized in any way the coaching staff like, but that he would get together with the coaches soon to go over his role exactly. I’m sure they went over aspects during the negotiations, but it’s always good to get a firm plan.
🧐 ESPN’s Jeff Darlington believes there is real mutual interest between the Jets and Odell Beckham Jr saying: "We should very much consider Odell Beckham Jr. still on the table as an option for the New York Jets. In fact, we can go even further to say that both sides would still like to see this done” - A receiving core of Wilson, Lazard, OBJ, and Hardman would be a dynamic and dangerous unit.
2019 was the last year where you could call OBJ a dominant presence, that year he went for over 1000 yards in Cleveland with Baker throwing him the ball. His average yards per game dropped below that 50 mark in 2020 and stayed there through the 2021 campaign. His 7 touchdowns in 11 games for the Rams (inclusive of playoffs) showed the kind of talent he still possesses, especially when he had held from someone like Kupp. With Garrett Wilson on the Jets, he’d get some good matchups to work with against defensive backs.
🎞️🎥 There are some rumblings that the Jets may be featured on Hard Knocks this year, with Aaron Rodgers, a young core, and plenty of potential star power, the Jets seem like the obvious choice. I haven’t watched Hard Knocks properly in years, although I did catch a few clips from the Lions last year. I loved the 2010 edition which featured Rex Ryan’s Jets, but as much as I like Saleh, he’s not quite at that entertainment level.
🔵 The Giants signed former Jets receiver Jamison Crowder, who joins former Jets receiver Jeff Smith on the blue side of NY. Crowder was with the Bills last year but caught just 6 passes for 60 yards before being placed on IR following an ankle injury he sustained in week 4. Crowder caught 51 passes in his final year in New York back in 2021.
Elijah Moore posted a farewell message to the Jets on his Instagram:
✍️ The Jets made another signing yesterday, well a re-signing to be exact. RB Ty Johnson is back for another year, agreeing to a one year deal. Johnson averaged 5.3 yards per carry last year on 30 attempts. Johnson is a nice bit of depth but he'll be fighting for his roster spot come training camp.
🤠 According to Adam Schefter, the Jets are on the final shortlist for Zeke Elliot alongside the Eagles and Bengals.
There is at least one person who's not overly fond of that idea…
Eddy Pineiro is another former Jet who found himself a new contract yesterday. The kicker who played in 5 games for the Jets back in 2021 signed a new 2-year contract with the Carolina Panthers. Pineiro went a perfect 8-8 on field goals while with the Jets with a long of 51 yards and he followed that up with an outstanding year in Carolina last year. Eddy hit 33-35 field goals for a success rate of 94.3%.
MAILBAG QUESTIONS
Thank you to everyone who sent in some mailbag questions. If I don’t get to yours today then I’ll keep them in reserve for a future mailbag. I saw a couple of questions about draft-eligible defensive tackles and I’ll be using that for Monday’s article.
This is a really good question and one that’s going a little under the radar at the moment.
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