Redemption Season

Edition #664

Good morning! ☕☀️

The fans were back in attendance yesterday and were treated to some dazzling Aaron Rodgers completions. It’s a simple and well-timed reminder that we have a QB capable of doing thinks that a lot of QBs cant.

Today we have some camp notes and then we’re going to talk about Allan Lazard, because for the first two days at least, he’s stood out for all the right reasons.

🟢 Edge Haason Reddick has been placed on Reserve/Did Not Report List, which is standard for anyone who fails to report for training camp. The 49ers have done the same with Trent Williams. What that does do is open up a roster spot, and the Jets wasted no time filling that spot by…

⚪ Signing QB Ben Bryant. The former Northwestern, Eastern Michigan and Cincinnati man has ideal size at 6’3 and 220lbs, and completed 64% of his passes across 6 years in college with 8,226 passing yards, 50 touchdowns and 23 interceptions. His 40-yard dash was north of the 5 second mark so I wouldn’t expect much on the ground but he’ll be competing with Andrew Peasley for that practice squad place. Robert Saleh also confirmed that Jordan Travis isn’t as close as they hoped and he’ll be out a little longer than anticipated, prompting the signing of a QB.

• Breece Hall was back in team drills and according to reports looked “explosive”, he later said that passing 1,000 yards is not even in question.

• Tyron Smith, Morgan Moses and AVT were not in team drills. Hall commented that he’d never seen a 300lb man have an 8-pack, referencing Smith.

• Takk McKinley is apparently impressing early, he had multiple sacks yesterday and you have to remember this guy is a former first rounder.

• Xavier Gipson limped off the field and Robert Saleh had no update after practice, that’s one to watch the rest of the week.

• Max Mitchell was singled out for his work against Clemons, it’s a really important off-season for Mitchell.

• Robert Saleh expects both Morgan Moses and AVT to join team activities next week. Huge news for the Jets who will have their starting line-up practicing together from the 2nd week of camp. With Smith getting plenty of rest days, every rep is important for line cohesion.

• Here’s an interesting nugget. Jermaine Johnson is lining up inside at defensive tackle on certain snaps. “If my team wants to utilize it, I’m all for it … I don’t really have a problem rushing on the inside.”

• One downside for today’s practice, there were 3 false starts by the offensive line. When you have backup linemen in and you have the cadence of Rodgers, mistakes are going to happen. Simpson was responsible for one and he got subbed out quickly. Higher expectations for the veterans.

• Great day for Aaron Rodgers who was close to flawless. Like Robert Saleh said earlier in the week, he can still sling it.

Who doesn’t love a redemption story. While many are focusing on the additional reps being afforded Will McDonald through Reddick’s absence, there is another man making the most of his opportunities early in camp.

For the second day in a row, the session finished with an Aaron Rodgers arrow to Allen Lazard, who’s getting a lot of reps with Mike Williams starting camp on the PUP list. This is a vital off-season for Lazard who’s seen his name repeatedly appear in trade talks over the off-season.

After signing a 4 year $44 million contract with the Jets, Lazard looked lost in New York last year on his way to the worst statistical year of his career, as long as you don’t count his rookie season where he received a single target (he caught it).

With Aaron Rodgers going down, the chemistry the Jets hoped to piggyback on disappeared. Lazard often looked to be on different pages to backup QBs Zach Wilson, Trevor Siemian and Tim Boyle, at points he seemed to be reading a different book.

23 receptions, 311 yards and 1 touchdown is the kind of statistical output you’d expect from a half decent UDFA, not one of your prized free agent acquisitions.

He’d never caught less than 60% of his targets, last year he caught just 47.9%. The year before he arrived in New York his drop percentage was 6.3%, it was 6.8% the year before that, last year it ballooned to 17.9%. The year before the Jets penned him to that 4-year deal he caught 39.1% of his contested catches, the year before it was 53.3%…last year it was 23.5%.

By any metric in football, Allen Lazard was a terrible receiver last year. But the Jets offence was terrible, the QB play was terrible, the belief seemed to be non-existent.