The New York Jets wrapped up their final practice in Richmond, Virginia on Tuesday. Now, focus turns to their Thursday night preseason matchup against the Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland.
Despite it being a meaningless preseason battle, the storylines emerging from this August 16th tilt are quite intriguing. Here are a few ahead of Thursday night’s matchup:
Will Sam Darnold continue to impress?
Jets’ rookie Sam Darnold certainly lived up the hype in Gang Green’s first preseason game against Atlanta, going 13 of 18 for 96 yards and a touchdown. His flashiness seeped into the practices this week as well. Washington’s star corner Josh Norman acknowledged that Darnold was impressive all three days. “It’s like, dang,” Norman said. “You get rookies in here, and you try to mess them with a little bit and bait them a little bit into thinking they’re throwing a route, and you can make a play and he’s not having it. It’s so crazy to see that at an early age.”
"This little kid is not making mistakes!"
ICYMI: @J_No24 walked away from #JetsCamp x #SkinsCamp impressed by No. 14.
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— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 15, 2018
And while head coach Todd Bowles has made no clear indication as to how much action Darnold will see on Thursday, it’s expected that he’ll see his fair share. Darnold had 28 reps during team drills in Tuesday’s final practice before the game, 23 of them with the starters. Teddy Bridgewater saw 24, but only three with the starters. Josh McCown was kept in the shadows with five reps, all with the starters.
All signs point to Darnold starting, and that is certainly going to be something to keep an eye on. It will be Darnold’s first true action with the starters, and against a starting defense. He may not be as crisp as he was last week, but it will be a good test to see how he handles the situation.
Potential Offensive Breakouts
Last week the Jets saw Charles Johnson and Trenton Cannon get quite a lot of looks on offense. They weren’t exactly “breakout” players, but they put the offense in good position on multiple plays and drives.
Could we see someone sneak out of the shadows this week? With TE Chris Herndon still out, opportunity should prevail for both Jordan Leggett and Clive Walford. Leggett is returning from injury after missing the past two weeks, and Walford certainly showed out in recent practices.
Others who could? RB Thomas Rawls and WR Tre McBride, who also had solid practices in Richmond. The Jets will need to make some decisions in terms of cuts in both the RB and WR departments in the coming weeks, so I would expect the lower-end players to get as many opportunities as possible this week and next.
The WR group is deep.
And cuts weekend will require several tough decisions, says Coach Dorrell.
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— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 15, 2018
Who Will Play?
Still no clear indication from Bowles on who will start, or even play in Thursday night’s tilt. However, here’s what we do know so far:
OT Kelvin Beachum, DT Steve McLendon, RB Isaiah Crowell and Lorenzo Mauldin all did not make the trip. WR Terrelle Pryor has already been ruled out after announcing he is still recovering from ankle surgery. Safe to say they all won’t play this week.
CB Parry Nickerson, OL Brian Winters, K Cairo Santos, OL Ben Ijalana, CB Juston Burris, FB Dimitri Flowers, TE Neal Sterling and TE Chris Herndon have all not been participating in practice this week. Good chance we don’t see any of these guys either.
We have signed OL Gino Gradkowski and placed OL Ben Ijalana on IR.
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— New York Jets (@nyjets) August 15, 2018
WR Quincy Enunwa returned to practice this week after dealing with a hand injury, however he has yet to participate in any contact drills. Doesn’t look like he’ll be playing either.
Overall, the Jets are pretty banged up. Expect quite a number of role players to attempt to make a name for themselves this week.
Will feud with Washington continue?
One of the biggest storylines this past week was the massive brawl that took place with the Jets and Redskins. The center of it all seems to be WR Terrelle Pryor, who was taunted all three days by his former team.
Unfortunately, from an entertainment standpoint, Pryor won’t be playing this week. However, that doesn’t mean the feud won’t continue. With the majority of the physicality stemming from the one-on-ones in the latest practices, I would expect that to come to light even more this week. Expect some aggressiveness from the DBs and WRs.
And with Norman’s comments about Darnold becoming a bigger topic than most would expect, I would look for some physicality against the rookie. Washington’s starting pass rush may look to quiet the noise surrounding Darnold. And with the Jets’ offensive line being banged up, they may get their way. We’ll see it all unfold on Thursday night.
– Kyle Hirshkind is the Managing Editor for Full Press Coverage Jets and covers the New York Jets. Like and follow on Follow @kylehirshkind Follow @FPC_Jets
