Undefeated

Edition #209

☀️ Good Morning.

It feels good to finish a season undefeated, even if that season is the pre-season. The Jets defeated the Giants 31-27 to end 3-0 and will now embark on the difficult decision of who makes the 53-man roster.

I'm currently on my holiday, so while I managed to watch the game last night (I have a very understanding wife 😉) today's newsletter will be shorter, but I have a few bits I wanted to share about the game and the Denzel Mims situation.

First of all, I just wanted to pass along a few things I've heard from people I trust about the Mims situation. None of this is groundbreaking, but it's worth sharing. There's a good chance he played his final game in green last night, and if that's the case then it was quite a performance with over 100 receiving yards and a touchdown.

According to multiple people I've spoken with, Mims has done his best this off-season to communicate with the coaches his desire to see an increase in reps. He's had multiple solo meetings with Saleh to try and understand his role within the offense and the opportunities that would be presented. Ultimately how the coaches see Mims isn't how he views himself and that's where the issues start. Mims loves being in New York which is what he said after the Giants game but his relationship with the coaching staff isn't particularly close. Nobody said that Mims thought he'd been lied to, but everyone said there was a feeling that he'd been let down and hadn't really been given a “true opportunity to compete” which is what he was led to believe from conversations with the coaching staff.

Apparently, Joe Douglas has been expecting the trade request to come through and one person I spoke to said that Douglas was surprised that it took as long as it did. He also added that the Jets are not motivated to move Mims and they'd be perfectly happy carrying him into the season if they could not find a team willing to match their valuation, with the Jets wanting to recoup as close to “original value” as they can. Whether that's Joe Douglas holding out for a late 2nd or early 3rd is unclear, but the impression I got is he won't just move him for peanuts because the player wants to move. Unlike Jamal Adams, he is not making a huge song and dance about wanting to move and is in no way a distraction in the locker room, and the Jets don't expect that to change because he's well-liked in the locker room and Mims doesn't want to become a distraction to the team.

What I took from the conversations is that Mims agent is driving a lot of this and he spoke with several teams before the request came in to ensure that there was a market for his client and the Jets have already received “significant interest” - although it's unclear if any of these match the valuation placed on Denzel by Joe Douglas.

In the end, I think a deal does get done and while everyone I spoke to said Mims would love to head back to Texas to play with the Cowboys, this isn't about the destination for Mims, it's about the opportunity to be a starting receiver in the NFL. However, there is absolutely a world where the Jets keep Mims on their 53, at least to start the season.

Like I said, nothing groundbreaking in here but worth passing along. These are my interpretations from multiple conversations I've had with people closer to the situation than me and who I trust.

Now let's get onto the game itself. Here are just a handful of thoughts before I get called into breakfast by my two-year-old banging her head on the table for the 50th time today.

💥 Mims looked like the player we thought we were getting when we heard his name called. He was crisp, his hands were good and he was a matchup problem for the Giants all game, his TD grab was outstanding and his concentration for the catch should be applauded. All in all, it was a great performance.

💥 Michael Carter II had a great game with a sack and interception, he was constantly around the ball and while the INT was a bad throw, it was a good heads-up play by Carter to drop deeper in his zone. Carter II had a good rookie season for the Jets, but he has the potential to be one of the best slot corners in the NFL.

💥 Chris Streveler…what can you say, that man has ❄️ in his veins. Yet again he leads the Jets to a comeback win with late touchdowns. He moves the offense and while he's doing it against backups, he's also playing with backups. His ability to use his legs to extend drives is a bonus and he's closer to Zach Wilson than any other QB on the roster.

💥 Talking of players who keep making plays, that was Calvin Jackson JR's second game-winning TD of the pre-season, the Jets coaching staff loves him and his energy, but it's a packed receiver room.

💪 Micheal Clemons is just a bad man on the football field. He knocked Tyrod Taylor out of the game with a good clean hit and he ran down Webb to the sideline as well. His motor is 💯 at all times and that really shows. I'm excited to see more of him.

🔥 Starting offense was a little cold, but the starting defense finally looked good…mainly because it's the first time we've really seen the starting defense. Brown delivered a bone-crunching hit, the corners looked good and all the linebackers made plays. They didn't allow any explosive plays and largely kept the Giants quiet until the backups started to filter in.

1️⃣ We haven't heard Sauce's name all pre-season and that's because he's locking his man down. He rarely gets targeted because he offers no separation. After the game Coach Saleh confirmed that he'd be the starting CB alongside Reed. We've suspected it for a long time but it's good to make the rookies wait and earn their spot. Even with this news, I don't think his teammates will be calling him sauce until he earns that name in a regular season game.

✅ Mike White has been a bit of a forgotten fan with the heroics of Chris Streveler but White has a great game yesterday. He was 13/17 for 170 yards and 2 touchdowns, it's the first time he's really been able to move the offense all pre-season. Who makes the team as QB3 will be one of the more interesting choices on cutdown day.

✅ Greg Zuerlein made his only field goal from 49 yards out, so that's a plus.

🤔 The starting offensive line looked as though they'd never played a proper NFL game together…which they haven't. Too early to panic but they were dominated in the run game and they'll need to gel more before Baltimore come to down if we hope to compete.

💥 Kwon Smash