Talking Isaiah Davis

Edition #651

Good morning! ☕

Mandatory minicamp is done, the off-season is done. We now have around a month before everyone gets back together for training camp, and as such TJW will go down to 2-3 editions per week starting from next week. As soon as training camp hits, we’ll be straight back up to daily editions.

Today we’re looking at Isaiah Davis, a player we haven’t really spent a lot of time talking about.

🟢 Mike Williams is a big x-factor for the Jets this year but he plans to be ready to go when the curtain drops on the new season in San Francisco - "For the season, for sure, That's my goal to be able to go out there, play this season and give it my all, give this team a chance, win the big thing." But when asked about coming back and pushing himself too soon he said - "See, that's been tough," Williams said. "Just watching those guys every day and wanting to be out there, you don't want to go too fast or anything. You just want to stick to the schedule, stick to the program and just trust the process. So that's my main thing, to trust the process. I'm seeing a lot of progress, so just keep my head down and keep working."

⚪ Williams was also asked about developing chemistry and preparing for the new season when he can’t be out there and he had an interesting comment: "Being in the meetings, talking to Allen [Lazard], Allen knows the offense. So just talking to him, asking him like the ins and outs, because I'm not actually out there running the play. So just, 'oh, when you line up right here, how does Aaron [Rodgers] like you to do it at the top of this route?' or talking to Aaron in the weight room or something. Just going over stuff. But it's more mental stuff right now in the receiver room or in the meeting room, just talking to the guys."

🟢 I haven’t shared many videos from mandatory minicamp, but short on quick throws today…here are two that the Jets official account shared. One of Garrett Wilson being Garrett Wilson and bringing in a contested catch on D.J. Reed and the other is of Stiggers, who is quickly becoming a fan favourite stepping in front of Ruckert for an INT that he returned to the house.

⚪ The Jets had 6 players in for a try-out during their mandatory minicamp this week, and as of writing this, they decided to sign one. Former Falcons 1st round pick Takk McKinley. He actually started off strong in 2017 with 6.0 sacks followed by 7.0 sacks in 2018. In 2019 he found himself on IR with a shoulder injury and after being released in 2020 he failed two medicals with the Bengals and 49ers. He found himself on IR in 2020 and in 2021 he tore his Achilles. Since then he’s bounced around practice squads but only started 6 games since the start of 2020, he didn’t appear at all last year. At his best he was a decent pass-rusher, in 2018 he recorded 50 pressures. But recently his injuries have severely limited him and it’ll be interesting to see if he has anything left.

✈️ With Breece Hall sitting out multiple sessions through OTA’s and Mandatory Minicamp (just precaution, relax Berman), the Jets have been able to give valuable reps to rookies Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis. Working with the two’s is good practice, but working with Aaron Rodgers, Tyron Smith and the ones just hits different.

By all accounts, both rookies are looking the real deal, and while Allen has a little more to him and is expected to play a bigger role, it’s looking increasingly likely that Isaiah Davis may push Israel Abanikanda into purgatory, or as we call it in the NFL, practice squad. There’s a chance the Jets will carry all four on the active roster, and they may have to if they want to protect Abanikanda, but the feeling you get out of 1JD is that Breece, Allen and Davis are the three guys who will lead the pack.

So what does Davis do well?

Size and power are the standout metrics on his athletic testing, with his speed and explosion coming in at a level that’s positive for his size.

4.57 in the forty isn’t going to blow you away at that position, but at let’s say 6’2 and 220lbs, it’s plenty fast enough.

With the greatest respect to South Dakota State, if you’re an elite talent in that program you should be dominating your opponents most weeks, as long as you have a little help along the way. Fortunately, that’s exactly what Davis did