Tarik Cohen Retires

Edition #669

Good morning! ☕

Last night we actually had some football. Some real football, with passes, hits and some pretty entertaining plays. Now that the calendar has turned to August I think we’re all ready for football to start. I love the summer, but Autumn, Winter and Spring represent football, European football, hockey and basketball and I’ve got a lot of time for all of that.

Yesterday we received a surprise announcement that Tarik Cohen was ending his comeback and retiring. Cohen spoke a couple of days ago about how he was feeling healthy and strong so this is a little surprising. He wasn’t set to play a huge role for the Jets this year but he had a chance to stick as a return man, I’d count this as a minor setback but a surprise none-the-less.

🟢 Linebacker Jamien Sherwood has gone a little bit under the radar this summer, but according to reports he’s been very active on defence and Head Coach Robert Saleh had this to say about the 4th year player - "He looks awesome. … Throughout camp and OTAs, in chaotic moments, he's still finding a way to get everybody lined up along with getting his feet in the ground and making the play, which is a really cool step in his development as a football player. He's off to a really good start."

⚪ Safety Tony Adams was asked to name a player who’s flying under the radar and he picked out former college corner, and recently converted safety Jarrick Bernard-Converse - "Last year he couldn't compete because he had an injury, he was kind of down on himself a little bit just because coming off a foot injury messes you up a little bit," Adams said. "As a DB, your feet are everything. Just seeing him come out here and compete at the highest level, playing physical, playing fast, its just so dope and it's great to see his maturity. I'm proud of him. He was in my room last year and just seeing his growth and maturity levels, it touched me. I'm really proud of that guy and I can't wait to see what he does this year."

🟢 Edge defender Will McDonald believes that he’s improved his explosion over the off-season: "My get-off really wasn't that good. But I've learned a lot about the game in the NFL, especially from my brothers. I definitely feel like this year I'm going to contribute a lot more." Externally there is a lot of pressure on McDonald to replace Bryce Huff, some of that was supposed to be negated by the addition of Reddick, but the less said about that right now the better. McDonald doesn’t feel that pressure - "I'm still going to be that same guy. I'm still going to play my role," he said. "I believe Bryce definitely helped me out a lot. And obviously we've got a guy like Haason coming in who I'm also going to take help from. He's definitely going to help me get better at the game."

Camp is young and we haven’t even got to the first pre-season game yet, but there are a few players who have reportedly stood out through the first 10 days or so.

I’m not going to include the players who we expect high performance from, so Aaron Rodgers, Garrett Wilson, Quinnen Williams, Sauce and Breece Hall won’t be making this list.

Here are five that have caught the headlines for all the right reasons.

1. Allen Lazard

It’s no secret that Lazard had the worst year of his career since becoming a regular first-team player. He never managed to create any chemistry with any of the QBs the Jets ran out there and after the season was done, many fans wanted to see the Jets make a trade. So far through the first week or so of training camp, Lazard has been one of the standout players on offence. It hasn’t been perfect by any means, there have been drops in there, which is an issue which plagued him all of last year. But, there have also been plenty of touchdowns and his chemistry with Aaron Rodgers is clear for everyone to see.

2. Qwan’tez Stiggers

I feel like I owe the readers of TJW an apology. Not only did I miss Stiggers out of the rookie expectation piece, but I’ve barely mentioned the guy all pre-season. He has an incredible story that you’re probably already familiar with, but he’s backing that up with an outstanding start to camp. I’m limited with what I see, as it’s based purely on what the Jets broadcast. But based on what I’ve seen, Stiggers is not only going to make the roster, he’s going to make some noise. He often runs against the second team offence and it’s clear he’s a step above that. He’s had an INT, he’s had multiple PBU’s and even when a pass is completed into his coverage, he’s all over his man. It’s far too early to call this, but the Jets may have found a gem with Stiggers.