Talking Playing Time & Slot

Edition #152

☀️ Good Morning!

Is it just me or is charting throws at OTA’s a little strange. There’s one thing and one thing only that I care about at OTA’s and that’s injuries, hopefully, a lack of them.

This newsletter will be a touch shorter today as I’m working on something for tomorrow, but hopefully, it covers all the talking points from yesterday’s open OTA.

🏥 Former Jets guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif is pausing his NFL career again to begin a residency program at a Montreal-area hospital. He also opted out of the 2020 NFL season to help fight the COVID pandemic. LDT confirmed that he’s confident there will be an offer to play football come September and he’ll decide at that point if he wants to play in 2022 or continue his residency. Duvernay-Tardif has a doctorate in medicine and a master's degree in surgery from McGill University. He started 7 games last season for the Jets replacing Greg Van Roten who’s recently been released.

🤒 Jets rookie Garrett Wilson limped off the practice field after catching a pass during OTA’s yesterday, after what happened to Carl Lawson last off-season Jets fans can be forgiven for thinking the worst. Ultimately he confirmed that it was minor and nothing to worry about, just a precaution to come out and get it checked but he’s ready to go.

👊 Jets defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton confirmed that rookie Micheal Clemons will be used in different spots this season, and he has the versatility to play inside and out like John Franklin-Myers. Clemons played the vast majority of snaps outside tackle in college for Texas A&M, with only one snap lining up in the A gap (between center and guard) and 22 snaps in the B gap (between guard and tackle)…that’s not a lot of experience over three years and he is smaller than JFM, so it will be interesting to see how much they use him inside. My gut feel is that he will be used inside on purely passing downs.

✅ Jets quarterbacks coach Rob Calabrese confirmed that he turned down the Kentucky offensive coordinator job this off-season because he wants to “leave his footprint” with the Jets. Nothing opens up more opportunities than developing a promising QB into an NFL star, if Calabrese can help do that with Zach Wilson then the offensive coordinator offers will come, that tends to be the natural journey. Rob grew up a Jets fan and an admirer of Boomer Esiason, so wanting to leave a mark on a team you've rooted for your whole life makes sense.

✈️ According to multiple reports yesterday, Denzel Mims was not at practice. Now we have to remember that this is voluntary, so he doesn’t have to be there…but with him needing a huge bounce-back season hopefully, there is a good reason he’s decided to not attend. DJ Reed was also absent yesterday after being present for much of the voluntary work.

💪 On a similar note, the Jets’ mandatory mini-camp starts next week and coach Saleh has confirmed that he expects every single player to be present. A lot has been made about Becton not being here, which really isn’t a story to me considering he’s just had his first baby and is working out with one of the very best down in Texas (Duke Mayweather). We’ll see what kind of shape he’s in which is bound to be a storyline.

Coach Saleh elaborated on Jeff Ulbrich’s comments which sent Jets nation into hysterics, confirming that players will not be limited to 30-35 snaps per game…which would equal around 50% of defensive snaps. Instead, they are aiming for players to be on the field for around 70% of snaps.

For argument’s sake, let’s say the defense is on the field for 65 snaps a game, if players are in for 70% of them, they will be in for around 45 of those snaps. There is a huge difference between playing 30 snaps and playing 45.

Saleh explained that with someone like Quinnen Williams they’ll have him in for first, second and third down…and then if the offense convert they’ll rest him for first and second down and have him come back in on third down. That makes more sense than what Ulbrich says, there are still some issues with it, but it does mean that Quinnen should be on the field more. I’ll take that.

Saleh also explained that the Jets are still working out who’s going to be their slot receiver in 2022.

There are several candidates for the position with the Jets hosting multiple players who could play there in Wilson, Moore, and Berrios. All three of them would do a fine job and personally, I think we’ll see a lot of mixing and matching.

Wilson had a productive season in the slot for Ohio State in 2020 catching 43 passes for 723 yards and 6 touchdowns, but his career really took off in 2021 when he moved outside. Last year he only spent 17.1% of his snaps in the slot (73.4% in 2020) and he caught 70 passes for 1,058 yards and 12 touchdowns.

Elijah Moore spent 92% of his time at Ole Miss in the slot and ended up catching 190 passes for 2,450 yards and 16 touchdowns, for the Jets last year he spent 28.3% of the time in the slot and 70.8% of the time out wide. Some of his more productive games came when he played outside more. He has the versatility to play both, as does Wilson…moving them around the formation and not allowing the defense to key in will always be an advantage.

We also can’t ignore Berrios who was the Jet’s most reliable receiver last season, he may have the best hands of all three. He’s spent 73.5% of his time in the slot over the last three years and there is an obvious trust (and bromance) between him and Zach Wilson. The Jets have a ton of options, nice huh.