The Best Five

Edition #410

Good morning. ☕

Welcome to the weekend. We’ve got plenty of quick notes today, including the contract numbers on Adrian Amos, projected numbers for Quinnen and a PFF ranking that makes little sense to me.

We’re also going to get back to the offensive line, my favourite football topic to discuss. We presume we know who our best five are, but do we actually? Could it look a little different?

😬 NFL films have reportedly reached out to the Detroit Lions about filming Hard Knocks with the franchise for the second straight season. It would be a break from the norm for the show, but according to sources who spoke to the Detroit News, the NFL is struggling to find a team to take on the cameras. The NFL can force the Jets, Saints, Commanders or Bears to take part, but they’d prefer not to. The Jets have already publically say they have no interest in being the focal point of the show.

🏆 ESPN had an interesting article on how to manage older icons on new teams. “Ostensibly, Rodgers doesn't need this. His legacy is secure, as was the case with the others, but he arrives harbouring two chips -- the one on his shoulder and the one he wants to win.”

🗽 Michael Zimmelman of Last Word on Sports had a good piece on how the 1998 Jets returned to the playoffs, and it’s a good read if you want to reminisce about that team and the legacy that it left.

🏈 Thomas Morestead gave an exclusive interview to Sportskeeda where he outlined the goals for this year: "What you maybe did as a unit or as an individual player last year is last year. And you know, hopefully, you can build off of that as a team. We gotta start from scratch and build our own identity this year."

💰 Rich Cimini is pretty confident that the Jets will get the Quinnen Williams deal over the line before training camp. As for the numbers, “My prediction is a four-year, $98 million extension, keeping him with the Jets through 2027. The 25-year-old first-team All-Pro had a career-high 12 sacks in 2022 and is vital to the Jets' attacking 4-3 front. Teammate Solomon Thomas called him "one of the best, most dominant players in the league last year." Coach Robert Saleh suggested the two sides will get a deal done by the start of training camp. That certainly would alleviate a potential distraction.”

📈 Sports Illustrated outlined one UDFA from each team most likely to make the final 53. For the Jets they had safety Trey Dean out of Florida: “Dean was a five-year producer at an SEC school and the versatile safety may be the quintessential diamond in the rough at a position of need. The Jets did not re-sign FS Lamarcus Joyner, vacating a spot in the room. The 6'2" Dean, who can play both safety roles, carried a sixth-round grade but went undrafted likely due to a 4.75-second 40-yard dash time. Despite the disappointing 40, Dean impressed in other areas of the pre-draft testing process. He topped all safeties at the Combine in the 225-pound bench press (25 reps) after snagging an interception during the East-West Shrine Bowl game.”

🧐 PFF ranked the NFL receiver cores and the Jets found themselves all the way down at #20 which surprised me a little bit. I didn’t expect us to be in the top 5 with the Bengals but I didn’t expect us to be lower than the Jaguars, despite the return of Calvin Ridley. “Garrett Wilson is a strong start for this exercise, as he earned an impressive 85.9 receiving grade as a rookie. He’ll be joined by newcomers Allen Lazard and Mecole Hardman, but the Jets also boast Corey Davis, Denzel Mims and Randall Cobb. Throw in tight ends C.J. Uzomah and Tyler Conklin, and this feels like one of the deepest groups in the league.”

💲 The numbers are in for Adrian Amos and the key one is the bottom one.

👍 C.J. Uzomah spoke with the official site about his expectations for the season as well as the vibes at 1JD: "The vibes are up, the vibes are high," Uzomah said. "We're flying high right now at 1 Jets Drive. I know what we have in the locker room. Names and names on paper, but we have to go out and perform. Lay it brick by brick. I'm out there having a good time, it's competitive. I'm having fun out there with the boys."

“At some point, we’re going to have to make a decision about who that left tackle is. The good news is we don’t have to do that right now, We’re both working and getting healthy and all that stuff. … We’re going to play the best five and however that shapes up and shapes out, at the end of the day they’re going to be OK with it.”

That was a comment made by Jets offensive line coach Keith Carter at OTA’s last week. Joe Tippmann the Jets second-round centre was also working at guard last week. That got me thinking about possible offensive line combinations.