Rookie Review Part Two: One Year On

Edition #146

☀️ Good Morning!

I had every intention of watching some of the USFL this Spring, looking for some talent the Jets could potentially scout and sign later in the Summer, but I’ve yet to watch a single game. If you’ve been tuning in, leave a comment below with some player names I should be focusing on.

🔌 PFF released their pre-season power rankings and they had the Jets sitting at #25. They played them in the “stuck in limbo” tier, just below the “eyes for playoffs” and above the “rebuild”. Although I think that’s low, I do think the Jets need to win some games before we expect to see a jump. As long as we end the year higher than #25 I’m happy.

3️⃣ They also named the Jets’ three best players entering 2022 as Carl Lawson, Laken Tomlinson, and Quinnen Williams. I don’t have too many problems with that, but they had Mekhi Becton as a consideration, and while I like Becton and expect a bounce-back year I think there are plenty of players who deserve to be in consideration above him, the other tackle for starters.

👑 Jets long snapper Thomas Hennessy paid a visit to a free speed and agility camp for young athletes in Rahway New Jersey, an event put on by former Jets Strength coach Joe Giacobbe who left the team following the 2021 season wanting to spend more time with family, he’d been with the Jets since 2017.

Today we’re going to crack on with our rookie review series. We’re going to carry on with the next four players drafted by the Jets before finishing the series tomorrow with the final two.

Jamien Sherwood - LB - Pick #146

There was a lot of hope for Jamien Sherwood in making the move from college safety to NFL linebacker, and there were signs that he was starting to find some comfort at his new position before a torn Achilles ended his season in week 7 against the New England Patriots.

That week 7 game was Sherwood’s first start at middle linebacker due to CJ Mosley’s absence. He had spent the previous three games at weakside linebacker and in two of those three games he achieved a PFF grade of 75+.

Where Sherwood eventually ends is up for debate, many consider him to be the natural replacement for Mosley but he needs to show a lot more before we can comfortably say that. Jeff Ulbrich offered up high praise during camp last year about Sherwood’s ability to pick up the defense.

“I’ve been around a lot of rookies as a player and coach and he’s unique in the way that he has absolutely like, picked up the finite details of this defense already. His ability to command the defense, run the huddle, make the adjustments, make the checks, the calls, the whole thing, [it’s] very exciting.”

Robert Saleh recently confirmed that Sherwood was still recovering from the Achilles tear, but that he was “Excited to get him back, I believe for training camp.”

Sherwood ended up appearing in just 139 snaps as a rookie so statistical comparisons are difficult in terms of traditional numbers like tackles, sacks, pressures etc. But here are some other numbers that are not entirely based on volume, I’ve included all linebackers who had at least 130 snaps to their name in 2021.

PFF Defensive Grade - 59.7 (48/119)
PFF Run Defense Grade - 69.6 (27/119)
PFF Tackle Grade - 49.2 (88/119)
PFF Pass-Rush Grade - 62.7 (68/119)
PFF Coverage Grade - 48.5 (86/119)
Missed Tackle % - 13.3% (82/119)
Yards per Reception allowed - 1.5 (1/119) - Only based on 2 catches

Michael Carter II - CB - Pick #154

I’m not sure what the expectation was for Carter in 2021, but I think it’s safe to say that he exceeded them.

It’s not often a late-round secondary pick will come into the team, beat out a starter in Javelin Guidry, and then play an entire season at a pressure position like slot cornerback, but that’s exactly what Carter did.

Over the course of the 2021 season, Carter logged 777 total snaps, only missing two games in weeks 14 & 16. His PFF grades aren’t overly impressive, but he certainly passed the eye test only allowing 1 touchdown all season on 79 targets while recording 4 pass break-ups.

I think it’s safe to assume that Carter will be back as the slot cornerback this year, but Guidry is still around if his form takes a dip or injury strikes. The stats below may now wow you but remember he was a rookie 5th-round pick starting straight away, on a young defense with little talent at safety and a pass rush that struggled to get home.

Let’s take a look at how Michael Carter II compared to other corners who played at least 600 snaps in 2021.

PFF Defense Grade - 53.7 (69/80)
PFF Run Defense Grade - 40.4 (76/80)
PFF Tackle Grade - 64.7 (24/80)
PFF Pass-Rush Grade - 69.7 (18/80)
PFF Coverage Grade - 56.0 (65/80)
Missed Tackle % - 11.4% (32/80)
Receptions % Allowed - 75.9% (77/80)
Yards Allowed - 595 (55/80)
Yards Per Reception Allowed - 9.9 (13/80)
Yards After Catch Allowed - 299 (67/80)
Touchdowns Allowed - 1 (4/80)

Jason Pinnock - CB - Pick #175

Pinnock is probably one of the more interesting players on this list. I loved him coming out of Pitt, I thought he was a big aggressive corner that we needed. My prediction early in training camp was that Pinnock would start opposite Hall, but that was a poor prediction.

Pinnock didn’t see the field until week 9 and that was after he’d made the shift from cornerback to safety. He didn’t start any game until week 16, making quick appearances at strong safety in weeks 9,11, and 12 and a couple of plays at slot cornerback in week 13. He only appeared in one snap against Miami at free safety in week 14 before making starts at the position in weeks 16,17 and 18.

In terms of grading, his three highest-graded games were those three starts at free safety to end the season and although he did play Jacksonville he also had two stern tests against Buffalo and Tampa Bay, two of the more high-powered offenses in the NFL. Turn out he was up to the challenge and he’s been receiving starting reps in OTA at free safety.

Odds are LaMarcus Joyner has the inside track at that free safety position, but if Pinnock can replicate his late-season performances in camp, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him lining up come opening day against Baltimore.

Pinnock appeared in 202 snaps over the course of the season, so how did he fare against other safeties in the league who appeared in 200 or more?

PFF Defense Grade - 70.4 (33/105)
PFF Run Defense Grade - 89.5 (1/105)
PFF Tackle Grade - 87.8 (7/105)
PFFCoverage Grade - 62.7 (54/105)
Missed Tackle Percentage - 0% (1/105)
Reception % Allowed - 85.7 (103/105) 6/7
Yards Allowed - 63 (9/105)
Yards after catch per reception allowed - 10.5 (37/105)

Hamsah Nasrildeen - LB - Pick #186

After the Jets selected Hamsah, he said that he believed the Jets had got a first-round talent. After appearing in 49 snaps over the first two weeks of the season Hamsah was relegated to special teams for the majority of the season, he didn’t appear on defense again until weeks 17 and 18 when he logged just 11 snaps total.

He did have some injuries in there and spent time on the IR list, but it became clear the Jet’s defensive coaches weren’t ready to trust him just yet.

Transitioning to a new position in the NFL is tough and the learning curve is steep, Hamsah will need to show more in camp this off-season if he hopes to make the team. I think with Marcell Harris arriving, Quincy now being here, and Sherwood coming back…Hamsah could well be on the bubble come late August.

60 snaps are too small of a sample size to really evaluate, so I’m not going to do the statistical breakdown for Hamsah.

In the news section above I wrote that PFF had released their pre-season power rankings placing the Jets at #25, I tweeted that back on Monday and was asked a good question. How accurate was PFF last season? I went back to the power rankings they posted at the start of August 2021 to take a look.

Last year they had the Jets at #28, and the Jets finished #29 in terms of having the #4 overall draft selection.

Outside of that, they had the Bengals at #27…obviously, they finished as the #2 team in football having lost the Super Bowl. They had Seattle at #10 and we know they were one of the worst teams in football as we gratefully took their 10th overall selection. They had the Browns as the 8th best team and we know Cleveland missed the playoffs entirely, same with the Saints who they had at #7.

PFF is about as accurate as any other outlet which is to say they’re not that accurate, but predicting how well NFL teams are going to play before training camp is near impossible. It’s a content exercise for the sake of creating content because as we’re discovering there are a lot of down months in the NFL calendar.

📺 Time to feature another Jets content creator who I really enjoy, and that’s Richie over at Jets Media. He does a wide range of videos and he has the kind of boundless energy I can only dream of possessing. He’s recently done a couple of Vlogs when going to meet a couple of the Jets players at some fan meet & greets and they’ve been excellent. Go on over and check him out and make sure you subscribe.