A New York Jets Thursday training camp session featured situations, a Le’Veon Bell fantasy football apology, and center Ryan Kalil.
FLORHAM PARK, NJ—“Situation, situation, situation … know the situation.” This is the repetitive rhetoric coming from the evil empire of the north for the better part of the last two decades, as so much of the game of football comes down to playing and owning the situation on the field.
On Thursday, New York Jets head coach Adam Gase opened up the situation game.
Team sessions featured red-zone and own-1-yard-line situations to go along with the standard length-of-field look. On one particular own-1-yard-line play, stud back Le’Veon Bell took advantage of a quick-hitter through the A or B-gap. The scamper went for at least 12-15 yards.
Notably, Gase started his offense with a healthy dose of screens. The first play of teams featured a slip screen to Bell that was brutally stuffed by the first-team defense. On second down, a pitch out of the gun was, again, stopped for a loss. On what would have been third down, a Robby Anderson wideout screen couldn’t muster positive yardage.
A mesh play starting from a bunch look yielded a Quincy Enunwa 25-plus yard score on a shallow cross, but also forced everybody to hold their collective breaths. Trumaine Johnson and Jamal Adams collided, and the latter remained down for a bit. In the end, no injuries occurred and the offensive mesh scheme resulting in a successful rub worked to perfection.
“I just saw somebody down and then when I saw it was Jamal (Adams), I just walked over there and he said he was alright,” Gase said after practice.
Defensively, Quinnen Williams was active, making contact for a loss at least once. When thinking personnel, it’s obvious Gregg Williams is turning to Henry Anderson as his solution on the edge opposite Jordan Jenkins. Although Steve McLendon is still showing face next to Leonard Williams in the middle (in the subpackage), once Quinnen is elevated, he’ll slide in there for the veteran.
In the 3-4, Tarell Basham, Brandon Copeland and Frankie Luvu continue to rotate on the edge opposite Jenkins with the three big guys (Leo, Henry and either Quinnen and McLendon) all in the middle.
Le'Veon Bell's Fantasy Apology
First and foremost, Le’Veon Bell revealed why he was pulled away for two-consecutive practices a week ago. The league tested him for performance-enhancing drugs and then again for the “street” drugs, as Bell put it.
The world already knew it was drug-test related, as per head coach Adam Gase, but the back-to-back tests now make sense.
Bell also made sure he relayed a concise message to fans after practice: “I’m sorry.”
“I don’t regret, obviously, sitting out last year, but … the only thing is I wish I could have told fantasy (football) owners some type of way that I’m not playing this year,” Bell proclaimed in response to his current fantasy football status. “That’s the only thing I really apologize for, that people picked me, not even knowing if I was coming back (and things like that). I’m sorry about not being able to communicate with the fans that I’m not playing this year.”
Le’Veon Bell apologizes for Fantasy Football 2018. And of course he should be the top pick in all your drafts. #Jets pic.twitter.com/PM9oNruira
— ESNY (@EliteSportsNY) August 1, 2019
Despite the year away, Bell has an idea of where he should be drafted this time around.
“First (overall pick). I’m excited.”
Don't Call It A Comeback
A couple of hours after practice, the signing of veteran center Ryan Kalil was announced by the team.
Kalil, 34, is a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro who retired following the 2018 season. The 12-year NFL veteran has only known the Carolina Panthers since he entered the league as a second-round product of the 2007 NFL Draft.
Kalil’s suited up for just 30 games over the last three seasons, but hedging a bet on such a tremendous veteran with Sam Darnold in mind is absolutely the correct call.
Joe Douglas knows. He understands. The former offensive lineman knew the deficiencies walking into the organization. I expected O-line additions to unfold this summer and Kalil, in my mind, is just the first of a possible few to come.
Camp News & Notes
- Wide receiver Tim White continues his visible hard work. Yet again, he was one of the last Jets to leave the practice field, working on his hands at the JUGS machine. He may have come away with the highlight of the day when quarterback Luke Falk drilled him for a 50-plus-yard touchdown on the 9-route.
- Wideout Deonte Thompson was incredibly active on Thursday. He caught 4-5 balls during teams and was targeted over five times.
- Robby Anderson’s short-to-intermediate route-running looks crisp and incredibly improved from a season ago. During goalline one-on-ones, he burned Parry Nickerson on a slant-stutter-fade for a score and did it again to Darryl Roberts on a stutter-slant along the back-end of the end-zone for a touchdown (that also drew a flag).
The Jets will get right back at it on Friday morning at the team’s facility in Florham Park.
