Let’s point the spotlight in a different direction
There are a few subsets of players who have the most eyeballs on them going into every NFL training camp. Whether it’s the rookie class, bubble players, veterans with everything to prove, or young players seeking a promotion on the depth chart, it’s easy to pinpoint which players have the highest stakes.
Still, training camp is vital for every player on an NFL roster in one way or another. Today, we will highlight five New York Jets players who are facing an important training camp in 2024 but do not fit into any of those aforementioned groups.
Breece Hall
Breece Hall has nothing to prove on the field, but off of it, this is an important training camp for him.
For the first time in his career, Hall is entering camp as the unquestioned leader of the running back room. In his rookie season, he opened the regular season behind Michael Carter on the depth chart. In 2023, Hall was rehabbing throughout all of training camp, and he started the regular season in a split role with Dalvin Cook, who had already established himself as a respected star in the league.
Now, this is clearly Hall’s room. He proved himself to be a star in 2023, is healthy going into the year, and is the elder statesman among the running backs who are a lock to make the roster. Behind Hall, the next two players on the depth chart are rookies Braelon Allen and Isaiah Davis.
With two freshmen behind him, Hall will take up a vital leadership role this year. In addition to honing his own play, it will be crucial for Hall to focus on doing whatever he can to help Allen and Davis succeed.
Garrett Wilson
Like Hall, Garrett Wilson is another player who doesn’t have to prove anything on the field. He’ll get 5,000 targets this year as the Jets’ WR1 and everyone knows it.
With that being said, I see this as a big camp for Wilson. For one, it will be huge for him to get back on the field with Aaron Rodgers and rekindle the connection they started to build last year. Considering they still haven’t played a regular season game together yet, I wouldn’t say their connection from last year’s camp and preseason is something that would stick without more work this year. They need to get back out there and do it all again.
Rodgers and Wilson need to be intentional and detailed with their work in training camp. They must not rest on their laurels just because they already did this last year. From a mentality standpoint, they must treat this as if it is the first day of school all over again. As the leaders of the offense, they need to set that example for a unit that is loaded with new players (including many rookies). And I have no doubt that both players will rise to the occasion.
Secondly, Wilson will be operating without Mike Williams for all of camp. With Williams’ injury woes, this is a scenario that could easily pop up multiple times during the season. It will be good for Wilson to practice carrying Williams’ load and putting the entire passing game on his back.
My final reason is that training camp will be an excellent environment for Wilson to work on the biggest weakness in his game: contested catches. Every day in practice, Wilson will go head-to-head with the best cornerback in football, whose lengthy frame allows him to contest passes at the catch point in a way nobody else can. Those one-on-one battles with Sauce Gardner are the best practice Wilson could ask for as he seeks to improve upon his 32.9% contested catch rate from 2022-23.
Sauce Gardner
Speaking of Gardner, I think he’s facing a huge training camp for a couple of reasons.
First of all, there is a huge target on Gardner’s back around the NFL (ironic because they love targeting him online but not on gameday). Despite the fact that he has clearly earned the right to be viewed as the NFL’s best cornerback, many people around the NFL not only refuse to put him No. 1, but they keep him out of the top 10 entirely. And we’re not just talking about fans and writers; we’re talking about people in the NFL. It is difficult to fathom the vitriol directed at this man despite his incredible play and humble mentality.
Gardner is extremely online, so he sees everything hurled his way. He often responds to criticism. You know all of the chatter is in his head when he is on the field.
The good news is that Gardner has already shown he can fight through it. The narratives around him were similar after his rookie year. “He’s overrated,” “He holds every play,” “He doesn’t get enough interceptions” – it was all there after 2022, too. And he didn’t let it affect him, putting together another brilliant season.
But now that Gardner has had back-to-back seasons of elite play in the same fashion (few interceptions, constant tight coverage that makes fans think he’s “holding”), the noise is twice as loud. Being the type of player who eagerly seeks out the naysayers, can he rise above it for a second consecutive season now that the pressure has reached an all-time high?
Gardner cannot let the criticism affect his game. He should not gamble for more interceptions to appease box-score scouts. He should not think about altering his hand usage because of the people who say he could be called for holding on every play. The challenge for Sauce is to keep being Sauce. But that’s all he’s done his whole life, so it should be no problem for the kid from Detroit.
The one thing that Gardner should really work on this offseason is his hands. While he shouldn’t try to gamble for more interceptions, he can certainly be more efficient at catching the interception opportunities that come his way. He can take after Jalen Ramsey in this regard, who has shown you can register strong interception numbers on a low volume of targets if you have great hands.
Alijah Vera-Tucker
In his rookie year, Alijah Vera-Tucker stayed at left guard for the entire season, and he didn’t miss any games due to injury (he missed one game due to COVID-19).
In each of the following two years, Vera-Tucker was forced to move to the tackle spot after starting out at guard, and in both years, he suffered a season-ending injury before the halfway point.
Perhaps it was a mere coincidence that both of Vera-Tucker’s major injuries happened at tackle, but the evidence is tough to argue with at this point. The Jets are ecstatic about the idea of giving Vera-Tucker a home at right guard and allowing him to stay there. As much as Vera-Tucker’s versatility is appealing, his health is the top priority, and if keeping him at guard is the best way to maximize his availability, it must be done.
Now that the Jets seem committed to keeping Vera-Tucker at right guard (barring an absolute emergency), Vera-Tucker will finally have a chance to focus entirely on mastering his mechanics at one position. This year’s training camp will provide him with the most ideal opportunity of his career to truly hone his game.
Vera-Tucker has already maintained a superstar impact in the run game despite all the shuffling, so there is little doubt he will continue thriving in that phase. However, he does have room to improve in pass protection. It’s in that phase where Vera-Tucker should benefit the most from being able to stay in one spot throughout camp.
In addition to the technical mastery that Vera-Tucker could achieve by focusing on one position, it will be great for him to play between two established starters from day one. The Jets’ tackle position was a carousel over the past three years. This year, there’s no debate: Morgan Moses is starting at right tackle and Joe Tippmann is starting at center. Vera-Tucker will have all of camp to build chemistry with these guys, which should certainly help him with blitz and stunt pickups in pass protection.
Jermaine Johnson
Similar to the position Will McDonald is in now, Jermaine Johnson was one of those players who were obviously facing a key training camp in 2023. He was a first-round pick who had a quiet yet promising rookie year, giving him massive breakout potential going into Year 2. And he lived up to the expectations. Johnson forged an impressive breakout campaign and solidified his status as a three-down mainstay on the Jets’ defensive line going into 2024.
But he might not be done growing yet.
For six consecutive seasons of football, Johnson has done nothing but improve every year. He started his collegiate career at Independence Community College (KS) in 2018 and played well enough to transfer to Georgia. He posted 2.5 sacks in 14 games in 2019 and improved to 4 sacks in 7 games in 2020. Johnson then transferred to Florida State in 2021 and broke out with 12 sacks in 12 games, putting him on the first-round radar.
From there, Johnson had a respectable rookie year and followed it up with a much-improved second year.
Why should the progress stop now?
While McDonald’s potential second-year leap is receiving the most attention as a potential path to improvement for the Jets’ defense, Johnson’s potential third-year leap should not be ignored as another in-house solution. After all, these two players are the same age (25). McDonald is the more obvious candidate since he has less NFL experience and will see a jump in playing time this year while Johnson will not, but nonetheless, I think we should have our eyes on both of them as breakout candidates in 2024.
Johnson’s 2023 breakout was foretold by his coaches and teammates prior to the season. Throughout training camp, he was lauded for the work he had put in during the offseason, and it showed in practice, as he constantly won his reps and clearly looked like an improved player. It all translated to the field a few weeks later.
If Johnson is poised for a second jump in 2024, it seems likely we’ll get a hint that it’s coming through his performance in training camp.
