Reporting live from New York Jets HQ in Florham Park, NJ—Though the New York Jets no longer play their home games at Shea Stadium, rain delays are unavoidable at times.
Courtesy of the Tuesday rain in Florham Park, NJ, Aaron Glenn‘s first mandatory minicamp practice has been delayed. Originally slated to get going at 12:10, per having the media available and on hand, it’s been pushed back to 12:35.
Relatively soon is when the party starts—just a day after the team’s media day, where, naturally, the New York Jets unveiled their new starting quarterback, Justin Fields.
Stick with Jets X-Factor for live updates throughout the day.
It’s all about the fundamentals
As has been the case this spring, the New York Jets’ first mandatory minicamp practice featured more fundamental intent. Not only is it obvious that Aaron Glenn has his eye on starting from scratch with this group, but he and his staff are firmly entrenched.
One amazing example of keeping a close eye on the basics came out of an offensive line drill. Jets’ OL coach Steve Heiden had his guys run through a drill intent on the habitual part of the game.
When kick-stepping or jumping out into pass-protection (particularly for offensive tackles in a wider spot), ensuring that the hands remain in the right spot is a critical part of the job. So, the drill required the pass-protectors to jump off while holding a bag.
When the hands, drop, the pass-rusher has a better chance of making a quick move, especially to the inside. This drill is aimed at keeping the pass-protector’s hands in the right spots while also keeping them as light as possible (think about it related to the baseball batter on deck who’s swinging the heavier bat).
Moreover, Glenn didn’t plan a lot of time for team sessions. They broke out into full team sessions just twice, one go for each of the three teams (starters, second team, and third team). Not once did they break out into 7-on-7s either.
On this day, the Jets focused on positional drills much more.
Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson
The first teams session featured a lot of Justin Fields and Garrett Wilson. In fact, fans would love the play design that got the ball to their WR1 for his first touch of the day.
A little later, Fields threw a late one to Wilson in the flat that saw Sauce Gardner break on beautifully. It seemed to be a secondary read from Fields, one where nobody expected him to target (as per the natural flow of the play).
However, he threw it for a completion, most of which was due to Wilson’s impressive catch in traffic.
That marks another noteworthy Garrett Wilson catch in traffic this offseason. Despite his many unddoubted WR1 traits, deploying strong hands in the nitty-gritty area has been something of a question mark.
A few plays later, Fields was forced to slide/flush a bit to his right before unloading a deep ball to his WR1 down the right sideline. The result was a pretty sideline catch by Wilson who created a silly amount of separation against outside cornerback Brandon Stephens.
As far as Fields is concerned, the day featured more of the same. There were pass attempts that were extremely late, whereas other plays were on the money. On one particular play near the left sideline, he hit Wilson in stride with plenty of arm strength and in perfect time.
This completion started Fields’s second go-around for the big boys, which happened to be within the two-minute drill. A quick Fields-to-Wilson middle-of-the-field completion ultimately set up a long field goal that put up three points for the offense.
Another notable Fields pass was an Allen Lazard target that ended in an incompletion. Lazard created no separation against Gardner, who remained attached to his him and entire time, eventually picking up the PD with his inside hand (outside hand on the hip).
Lastly, the Brady Cook rollercoaster continues. For some strange reason, he struggles with the middle-field vertical route, whereas he oftentimes looks stellar when throwing the more difficult pass to the sideline.
Defensive shoutouts
The first defensive shoutout goes to linebacker Quincy Williams, whose discipline shone brightly.
Despite a nice-looking play concept, Williams stayed true to his weak-side responsibility. Instead of over-pursuing with his hair on fire, he stayed home to track down the sifting/flashing route-runner off of play-action.
The result was Justin Fields having nowhere to go with the ball. Instead, he had to scamper off that side without many yards to gain.
Elsewhere, defensive tackle Byron Cowart flashed a bit. Under the discipline category, yet again, he stayed home on the quarterback.
Understand what this new-look Jets offense is all about, folks. There’s a lot of action and intent in the rushing game, which means play-action, zone reads, quick screens, and RPOs are the name of the game.
Cowart, the 300-pound defensive tackle, was seemingly tasked with the quarterback as his rush responsibility, and he was all over Tyrod Taylor when it happened.
The third defensive callout goes to the entire second team secondary, especially the cornerbacks. Taylor’s two-minute scenario ended in failure, as a last-play Hail Mary fell incomplete.
The likes of AZ Thomas, Qwan’tez Stiggers, Isaiah Oliver, and others were careful to play everything to the situation. On a couple of plays, the out-to-in leverage was apparent, as they protected the sideline while perfectly shutting down the offense’s out-driving concept.
Full participation
Despite the ongoing Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson contract negotiations, both young players were on hand.
After practice, Aaron Glenn was asked if he had full participation on this day. His response, as per usual, was challenging: “What do you think? You tell me,” he said.
It’s a tremendous look that Gardner, Wilson, and everybody else was on hand. Quinnen Williams, who missed some of the OTA work, was also present for the first day of mandatory minicamp.
The only notable players missing in action were the still-rehabbing Jermaine Johnson and rookie Arian Smith, who has seemingly picked up an injury at some point previously.
Day two of New York Jets mandatory minicamp is slated to get going on Wednesday. Jets X-Factor will be on hand, as per usual, starting at 12:10 p.m. ET.
