Tag: 2020 Jets training camp

CB Nate Hairston among Jets’ cuts

The Jets cut cornerback Nate Hairston after one season with the team.

It’s been a year and a week to the day that Nate Hairston was acquired by the Jets in a trade with the Colts. Now the cornerback’s time in New York is up.

Hairston was cut by the Jets on Saturday after just one season with the team. The move saves the Jets just over $2 million in cap space. New York traded a conditional sixth-round pick to the Colts in exchange for Hairston last summer.

Hairston played in 11 games with six starts last season. His playing time increased when Trumaine Johnson started to struggle and eventually got hurt. Hairston recorded 24 tackles, three pass defenses and one interception in 2019.

In training camp, Hairston primarily worked with the starters as the slot cornerback due to Brian Poole’s bout with dehydration, which kept him out for a couple of weeks.

The 26-year-old Hairston was originally a fifth-round pick by the Colts in 2017 out of Temple. He played in 27 games for Indianapolis with 11 starts, 65 tackles, six pass breakups and one interception in two seasons.

Jets LB Jordan Jenkins talks training camp fight: ‘You have to get the tempers flaring’

Jets LB Jordan Jenkins admits to trying to “get the tempers flaring” after being involved in multiple scuffles during last week’s practice.

There’s truly a method to Jordan Jenkins’ madness.

Just last week, the Jets starting outside linebacker appeared to be a man possessed, throwing punches at OL Alex Lewis while also going after OL Greg Van Roten. Jenkins had to be separated from Van Roten, while QB Sam Darnold, S Marcus Maye and RB Le’Veon Bell played peacemaker.

Now, however, Jenkins is saying he accomplished something during that heated practice.

“I knew I could get Alex (Lewis) riled up,” Jenkins told reporters following Sunday’s practice.

Jenkins certainly did get Lewis irritated after the Jets veteran traded verbal remarks with LB Neville Hewitt. That’s when Jenkins took a couple of shots to get the energy up at practice, he said.

Jenkins isn’t the first veteran to start fights in training camp and he certainly won’t be the last. If there is a perceived lack of energy among players, especially with a shortened training camp, then sometimes there may be an incident that stirs the pot.

“You have to get the tempers flaring to see how people respond,” Jenkin said.

With fights commonplace during training camp, Adam Gase was quick to brush off anything out of the ordinary happening, despite punches being thrown and tensions being high.

“I mean, spirited practice to say the least,” Gase said last week. “It seems like tempers were flaring a little bit, but that’s what’s going to happen sometimes when we’re doing a lot of running the football and then the big guys start getting a little irritated with each other. It’s good to see both sides of the ball aren’t backing down.

“As long as it doesn’t happen every day, every period, occasionally things go down and we got to be smart with what’s going on, but at the same time, it’s just good to see our guys with the fire they have.”

It’s clear that both Jenkins and his head coach agree that sometimes tempers are needed.

Kalen Ballage fails Jets physical, heads back to Miami

Kalen Ballage failed his physical with the Jets because of a hamstring issue and is now heading back to the Dolphins.

Even the players that Jets trade for are injured.

According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, newly acquired running back Kalen Ballage failed his physical with the Jets because of a hamstring injury. Ballage will now head back to Miami and New York will get its conditional 2021 seventh-round pick back.

The Jets are down to two healthy running backs (Le’Veon Bell and Frank Gore) with Ballage going back to Miami and rookie La’Mical Perine now hurt. Perine injured his ankle in practice on Sunday and had to be carted off. He’ll have an MRI.

Safety Marcus Maye is dealing with a calf issue that forced him to leave practice early. Maye wanted to keep practicing, but Adam Gase held him out as a precaution.

Wide receiver Jeff Smith is out a couple of weeks with a shoulder injury.

Adam Gase loves that Braxton Berrios’ play doesn’t match his size

Adam Gase thinks Braxton Berrios is a competitor despite being one of the smallest players on the team.

Despite being one of the smallest players on the Jets’ roster, wide receiver Braxton Berrios plays like he’s one of the big guys.

Berrios stands at 5-foot-9 and 190 pounds. He’s tied with Javelin Guidry, Frank Gore and Jamison Crowder for the shortest players on the team. Berrios’ weight is tied for the fourth lightest on the roster. And yet, Adam Gase said that Berrios plays like a big receiver.

“He’s a competitor, man,” Gase said this week. “He plays like he’s 6-4, 230. He gets after it every day.”

Berrios isn’t afraid of taking a hit on the field. He’s the type of player who will make sure he can rack up extra yards before going out of bounds or to the ground. Berrios only had 115 receiving yards last season — he saw most of his action on special teams — but 87 of those yards were after the catch.

The 24-year-old could have an increased role on offense this season. New York is extremely thin at wide receiver due to injuries, so Berrios could see a lot of snaps there. He got jusrt 85 offensive snaps last season. Berrios is also more than likely going to be the Jets’ punt returner and he’s in competition with Ashtyn Davis at kick returner.

Obviously, the Jets like Berrios for his speed. He ran a 4.44-second 40-yard dash at his Miami pro day. But he’s got other attributes that Gase and the Jets like, including his competitive fire.

We’ll see if that translates to more opportunities for Berrios in 2020.

Jets injury report: Breshad Perriman sits out practice with knee injury

Breshad Perriman was held out of Sunday’s practice due to a knee injury.

Add Breshad Perriman to the list of injured Jets wide receivers.

Perriman sat out of Sunday’s practice due to a knee injury. His knee swelled up a bit on Saturday, but the injury is not considered serious and the expectation is that he’ll be back on Monday.

RT Chuma Edoga didn’t finish practice, as he suffered a calf injury. Edoga is in a battle at right tackle with George Fant. Meanwhile, LB Patrick Onwuasor had tests done on his knee that revealed no torn ligaments. He’ll be out for an extended period of time.

WR Denzel Mims (hamstring), CB Brian Poole (dehydration), CB Pierre Desir (hamstring) LB James Burgess (back), Corbin Kaufusi (hamstring), RB Josh Adams (hamstring), S Mathias Farley (hamstring), OL Connor McDermott (knee), DL John Franklin Myers (groin) and DE Jabari Zuniga (quad) were all held out of practice once again. Poole had an extreme reaction to dehydration due to an undisclosed condition.

LB Avery Williamson said he felt good in his return to practice after being out for about a year with a torn ACL.

Jets had 10 false positive COVID-19 tests after irregularities from New Jersey lab

The Jets had 10 false positive COVID-19 tests after there were irregularities from a lab in New Jersey.

The New York Jets were one of several NFL teams affected by irregularities from Saturday’s COVID-19 test results from a lab in New Jersey.

Adam Gase told the media on Sunday that the Jets had 10 false-positive COVID-19 tests this weekend. Since the test results initially came back positive, the Jets were forced to cancel Saturday night’s walkthrough. Once the Jets found out their test results were false-positives, they proceeded with Sunday’s practice.

“It’s such an unknown. Everything is day-to-day right now,” Gase said Sunday, generally speaking. “You have to be able to adjust.”

New York wasn’t the only team that came back with false-positives. The Chicago Bears had nine such tests, while the Minnesota Vikings had 12 false-positive tests. The Pittsburgh Steelers had six as well. The Buffalo Bills and Cleveland Browns were also impacted.

Fortunately for the Jets, they were given to green light to practice on Sunday. With a ramped up training camp and no preseason games in 2020, every practice is meaningful. Other teams, such as the Browns, were forced to cancel practice entirely on Sunday and had to go virtual.

Jets injury report: Patrick Onwuasor among 3 new injuries

Patrick Onwuasor, Josh Adams and John Franklin Myers all suffered new injuries for the Jets.

The New York Jets announced three new injuries on Saturday.

Patrick Onwuasor (knee), Josh Adams (hamstring) and John Franklin Myers (groin) were all forced to leave practice early. Onwuasor hurt himself chasing down TE Ross Travis. He was able to walk off the field under his own power.

Denzel Mims (hamstring), Pierre Desir (hamstring), Brian Poole (dehydration), James Burgess (back) and Jabari Zuniga (quad) were all held out of practice again. The Jets are hoping Mims can start individual drills in the coming days. Meanwhile, the Jets are not rushing Poole back, as he is still dealing with dehydration issues. He had a similar problem last summer as well.

Avery Williamson (knee), Ryan Griffin (ankle) and Daniel Brown (NFI list) were all activated and participated in individual drills for the first time this training camp.

Jets activate Avery Williamson, Ryan Griffin, Daniel Brown

The Jets have placed Avery Williamson, Ryan Griffin and Daniel Brown back on the active roster.

The New York Jets have three injured players back on the active roster and officially practicing.

The team announced Saturday that Avery Williamson (knee/PUP), Ryan Griffin (ankle/PUP) and Daniel Brown (NFI) have all been activated. Joe Flacco is the only Jet left on the PUP list.

Williamson is coming back from a torn ACL that he suffered last preseason. His value on the team increased this offseason with C.J. Mosley opting out due to COVID-19 concerns. Before Williamson’s ACL injury, he was coming off one of the best seasons of his career, recording 120 total tackles, six pass breakups, three sacks, two forced fumbles, one fumble recovery and one interception.

Griffin was the Jets’ best tight end last season. He was a late offseason signing last year but proved to be one of Sam Darnold’s favorite targets. Griffin had 320 receiving yards and five touchdowns in 13 games before going down with an ankle injury in Week 14. The Jets rewarded Griffin with a three-year contract extension worth $10.8 million.

As for Brown, he was primarily a backup tight end in 2019. He started in five of 16 games and had seven catches for 72 yards and a touchdown. The Jets re-signed Brown to a one-year deal this offseason.

In other Jets news, they re-signed safety Anthony Cioffi and released tight end Connor Davis.

Jets injury report: Connor McDermott week-to-week with knee injury

Connor McDermott is week-to-week with a knee injury.

The Jets lucked out with an injury to one of their backup offensive lineman.

Connor McDermott had an MRI on his knee on Wednesday and is listed as week-to-week. McDermott left Tuesday’s practice after hurting his knee, but the injury is not as serious as initially feared.

As for Thursday’s practice, Mathias Farley (hamstring) and Jordan Willis (knee) both left practice early. It is unknown how severe both injuries are to Farley and Willis.

Denzel Mims (hamstring), Pierre Desir (hamstring), Brian Poole (dehydration), James Burgess Jr. (back) and Jabari Zuniga (quad) all didn’t practice on Thursday as well.

Jets OT Mekhi Becton happy to be hitting people again

Mekhi Becton is pumped up to be hitting people again.

Mekhi Becton is back to doing what he does best: pummeling players to the ground.

The rookie spoke to the media on Tuesday as the Jets held their second day of padded practices. For Becton, it was his first time practicing since he was at Louisville. So getting back on the field and doing his favorite thing has been an amazing feeling.

“I haven’t been able to hit someone in a while,” Becton said, “So it’s been great!”

The Jets have liked what they’ve seen out of Becton so far in training camp. All of the hype about how big he is has been amplified as he pancakes Jets defenders. Becton stands at 6-foot-7 and 370 pounds, which is not where he’d like to be at weight wise. He’d like to be in the range of 350-355 pounds, but the Jets are more worried about his production than size.

New York picked Becton 11th overall in this past year’s draft with the hope he can protect Sam Darnold’s blindside for years to come. Even without a full offseason program, the Jets expect Becton to make a big impact on the offensive line at left tackle in 2020.

It’s still extremely early in training camp, but as long as Becton keeps up the work, he’ll be putting a lot of defenders on the ground come the start of the regular season.