COURTESY OF NEW YORK JETS COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT
Opening Statement:
Injury update: (Denzel) Mims was out today with a hamstring, Vyncint Smith, he’s got a core injury, he’s going to be seeing a specialist. So, we’ll wait on the results of that to kind of really give you guys a timeline. (Bronson) Kaufusi has a hamstring, Cameron Clark was out today with a shoulder, right now he’ll be week to week. (Pierre) Desir – hamstring, Jabari (Zuniga) – quad, Brian Poole we held out today. He went through practice, the last practice we had and had a really rough one with dehydration. We don’t have him back to where we want him to be. We’re being extra precautionary obviously on that to make sure that he’s in a better place than where he’s at right now. So, we’re just trying to be smart with that. It was better today than it was the other day, second day out. We have a long ways to go, we’ve got a lot of things to work on especially just making sure guys are in the kind of football shape we need them to be in. That’s why we’re going through what we’re going through right now with the practices and the walkthroughs and just trying to get everybody playing as fast as possible, and then at the same time, getting these guys in the kind of shape they need to be in for the season.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Can you talk a little bit about the signing you guys are making with (Chris) Hogan and what you believe he can bring to the offense?
Obviously, we’re a little thin right now, we’ve got two guys that aren’t practicing. He’s somebody that’s name has come up quite a bit around here when we were talking about guys to add, and he’s a guy that’s going to be able to come in here pick up the offense very quickly. It’s going to be familiar as far as a lot of things that he’s done in the past. Obviously competed against him quite a bit, just feel like he’s a good fit for us.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Can you explain how the COVID-19 protocols pertain to a guy like Hogan and also with the new tight end (Connor Davis) who was out there today?
We brought (Davis) in four days ago or five days ago for a tryout, because they’ve got to go through all the COVID testing before we even try them out. So, he’s been here for a while, basically went through all the testing and then we work them out and one guy gets to stay. With Chris, you’re not going to see him out there for a little bit. So, that’s the toughest part that we’re kind of maneuvering through when you have two guys go down on back-to-back days at one position and the roster size is 80. All of a sudden it changes things in practice really fast.
Brian Costello, New York Post: How challenging can that be Adam, not just in training camp but during the regular season a lot of times you guys know a guy is injured on Monday, you bring people in Tuesday and get them out on the field on Wednesday. That’s not going to happen this year, right?
That’s something that we’re a long way from right now. I think that’s why the practice squad is going to be bigger than what it’s been in the past. Training camp, the hardest thing is if it’s the same position, if you have multiple injuries of the same position, all of a sudden you can get thin fast. Usually it happens at corner and a lot of times when it happened in the past, you had 12 guys going in or 11 receivers going in, you lose a couple guys, it’s not decimating. Right now, we’re at eight, all it takes is a couple other guys to start getting sore and their workload increases. So, it makes it tough.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Coming into the season obviously with Sam (Darnold), he already had a couple of new targets to get used to, obviously with Robby (Anderson) gone, who was kind of a familiarity for him. How much of a burden does this is put on him now with this receiving situation as it is?
I think he’s handling everything great right now. Obviously with (Jamison) Crowder being back, it seems like him and (Breshad) Perriman have figured out a way to hook up really quick. Today it was great to see those guys kind of connect on a few things. And then just a lot of the guys that we’ve been working in with his group have been here. So he knows a lot of the guys that we’re working that aren’t brand new and people might not know who they are right now but we had some good young players last year that developed and are giving themselves a shot to contribute with us.
Charles McDonald, New York Daily News: How do you feel about the overall talent level of the receiver room? Is that something you see being a problem this year or are you excited?
I like this group, I like our young guys. I like the way our guys developed. I think you’re always going to look at it as, hey how do we improve. I mean that’s what Joe (Douglas) and his crew does. They’re always going to be looking to find somebody else to – if somebody is available that can help our team, they won’t be afraid to go get them. I think we’re in a spot where it’s kind of our second round draft pick (Mims) hasn’t practiced yet and then Vyncint goes down. (Smith) started a lot of games for us last year, and I think, like I said, adding Perriman, Crowder being back, (Braxton) Berrios has done well for us, (Chris) Herndon being back. You’ve got to look at it as a big picture with our running backs with Le’Veon (Bell) and Frank (Gore), we’ve got a rookie that is able to do a lot of things coming out of the backfield. I think you do have a lot of guys that really can kind of share the load at the skill spot.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: Is Herndon a guy that you believe has some ability to play receiver if need be?
That probably wouldn’t be something I’d be looking to do with him. I like where we’ve got him. I mean I’ve only seen him play nine plays in a game. So, I’m going to let him play tight end. We’ve got enough wide receivers, I wouldn’t even think to do that.
Connor Hughes, The Athletic: You mentioned Cameron Clark is week to week with that shoulder issue. Is that a similar diagnosis that you would give with Mims with that hamstring?
The hamstrings to me are so tough to predict because everybody reacts different. Some guys start feeling better a lot faster, and some guys it goes longer. Everybody has a kind of different feel. Some guys I’ve been around have to be 100 percent before they even go back out there and compete at the level they need to compete at, some guys can do it when they were 65%, find a way to push through and keep strengthening. So, obviously this is our first go around him with any kind of injury, so we’re going to have to kind of figure out where he’s at and how fast he’s going to progress.
Rich Cimini, ESPN: Did Clark get hurt in practice yesterday?
Two days ago. It was just kind of one of those things where it was like freak deal where his arm got extended and his shoulder kind of got tied up.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Adam, how did Frank (Gore) look to you out there today?
Looked Good.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Was (Gore) pushing you to get back out there?
Yeah, he’s, he’s the worst when it comes to trying to, you know, have a conversation with, convince him of what you think, when it comes to playing football. He didn’t want to hear any of that. He wants to be on the field, he wants to get reps, he wants to contribute, he wants to, you know, go out there and compete against those guys. Yeah, I think its fun for him because he played against us last year so he’s competed against our players and now being on the same team. You can see why the guys still playing, he runs out there on the first day, you know, like it’s the first time he played a practice in the NFL. You can tell that’s why he still plays, he still loves it. He still loves the first practice. He’s excited about it, he’s nervous about it, I mean that’s, it’s pretty cool to see a guy that’s, a future Hall of Famer that still gets like.
Al Iannazzone, Newsday: Adam, what have you seen from Breshad so far and like what have you learned about him over, you know, whenever you can talk to him?
He did a great job of making sure he knew the ins and outs of the offense through what we did over the spring, but at the same time, you can tell he took time this summer to study, throughout the summer. When he showed up, and we were able to start doing walkthroughs, he doesn’t make mistakes, he knows where to line up, he knows what to do, he knows the adjustments. He’s been in a few different offenses, so he’s figured out how to translate what he’s known into what we’re doing. And then he’s able to play at that speed that we’ve seen him play before. And for him, that’s not always easy when you’re in a brand new offense when you start thinking, well, he doesn’t look like he’s thinking to me, he’s just going out there executing the play that is called. And I’ve been extremely impressed by him the way he works. And then, like today when you see him run, and he gets loose downfield, then you really start going okay now I see this and then let’s do this, this and this. So, the wheels start turning when you see this guy making plays in practice and really put pressure on the secondary.
Kim Jones, NFL Network: Adam I know that you said you know Sam’s (Darnold) processing more quickly, he knows the offense, command of the offense, but are his mechanics, a little quicker? Do you see anything in terms of that? And if I may, it looks like Marcus Maye was back to return punts. What was that?
Yeah, we’re working a whole bunch of guys as far as the punt returner stuff. (Braxton) Berrios has plenty of experience and does the job exactly the way we ask him to do it. And, you know, we always have to be prepared and the more guys that can go back there. You know Marcus is a guy that if you ask him to go play guard he probably would do it just because he’ll do whatever he needs to do to help the team win. So, I mean he’s one of those guys and he goes, “I can do it,” and he goes back there and practicing, just in case it’s something come up in a game. And with Sam, I do, I think everything for him is quick. When I watch him right now, it’s just even when you call the play. He doesn’t have to wait for me to finish, he just kind of starts going. He’s able to start the operation with me still talking and it just seems like everything’s a step faster this year. He seems way more comfortable, he’s not thinking about alright what’s the play call, where’s this guy, what’s this guy have to do, what’s the adjustment. You can tell he’s not thinking about all the little things you do in the first year of a playbook. He’s just coming out, he knows it, and then you can see he focuses on protection, the coverage and where the ball is going to go. And then his mechanics definitely, the way that he’s dropping and the way the balls out, it does, everything seems like it’s a lot faster than it was last year
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: Adam, are you going full pads tomorrow for the first time?
We’ll go the uppers, will kind of progress into full pads, we’ll get into it this week, but we’ll go uppers to start, like the shoulder pads, just not the pants.
Mark Cannizzaro, New York Post: How much does that change the dynamic of practice and how much you are you kind of looking forward to the progression?
When we get the uppers on we treat it like we’re in full pads. We expect our guys to stay off the ground, anyways. We’ve looked at it as, we should be able to thud up, wrap up, stay up. You know if you do it right, you should be able to practice in uppers.
Charles McDonald, New York Daily News: Adam, what role do you envision for Chris Herndon this year in the offense? Like what is your ideal spot for him?
Yeah, I mean he’s our starting tight end. We move him around a lot. He plays both inline, he plays off the ball, when we go two tight ends sets, it could be him and (Trevon) Wesco, they both can play both spots. We have specific things that we’d like to do with both of those guys, you know, and especially when Ryan (Griffin) gets back. Chris gives us a lot of flexibility because it’s rare to have a guy with the ability to be as effective as a pass catcher and a guy that’s explosive when he gets the ball in his hands and still be an on the line tight end that can block in the run game and also pass protect. Chris does give you, something that you don’t, you just don’t see a lot with all tight ends throughout the league where you can say, I believe in protection feel comfortable, you know if we’re running in a play to his side, I’m not worried about it because he does a really good job of using the technique he’s coached, knowing what to do. And he’s physical and Chris is a guy that has rare traits in that aspect.
Brian Costello, New York Post: With Mekhi (Becton), do get a sense that he’s swimming right now?
No, not even close. It’s funny, he looks like he’s been doing this for a minute. It looks very natural for him. I’m like you guys, anytime a rookie gets plugged into that starting offensive line, we all know it’s a lot, and especially going against the defense, our defense every day you’re getting a lot of different looks. He looks comfortable to me. And he’s not making mistakes. I’ve been extremely impressed by how he’s operating as far as his knowledge of football, how he’s retaining things, acquiring the information, recalling it, and then at the same time executing, playing fast. He’s doing a really good job.
Brian Costello, New York Post: Also, did you mention Desir with the injuries? Is he still out with a hamstring?
Yes.
Dennis Waszak Jr., Associated Press: Adam how you see the kicking competition kind of playing out because these guys look pretty good. Do you think that it’s one of the things that might go down to the end where you have to make a decision?
I think we’re a way away from. I mean the reason we got them both in here is because we like those guys. We have to give both these guys every opportunity we can to battle this thing out and figure out which guys best for us by the time we have our first game.
