Braxton Berrios’ competitive edge has turned him into a return man the Jets can trust on a weekly basis.
That same edge is the reason why he was so successful outside of football during his days at the University of Miami.
When Berrios wasn’t busy torturing ACC defenses out of the slot and as a kick and punt returner for the Hurricanes, he was taking care of business in the classroom. Berrios was the Valedictorian of Miami’s Herbert School of Business — an impressive feat given the difficulty of balancing academics with playing in a Power 5 conference.
“I preface it every time before this talk with, ‘I’m not the smartest guy in any room I walk in.’ I’m really not,” Berrios said Wednesday. “But at the end of the day, I have a competitive edge and a switch that just doesn’t go off.
“I sat in those classes and it was either you or me. You got the same test I got. You got the same quiz I got, the same project, whatever. I was going to make sure that when I turned mine in, I was going to beat you.”
As consistent as Berrios has been for the Jets in 2021, he’s not perfect every time he takes the field — no player realistically is. The best players are judged on their ability to respond and bounce back from slip-ups, which is something Berrios had to do as a student after receiving a “B” in one of his junior year classes.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” Berrios said with a laugh. “It stung. It hurt. I’m not going to say the teacher’s name, either. It was in a finance class and it bothered me for a while.”
Academic prowess aside, the Jets might have themselves a long-term keeper in Berrios. He has managed to develop chemistry with Zach Wilson — albeit in a limited role with Jamison Crowder taking most of the snaps in the slot — and is getting the job done as a returner. Berrios might not be the second coming of Andre Roberts or Leon Washington, but he is a major upgrade over some of the return men New York has trotted out over the last decade.
The rest of the regular season is a chance for Berrios to do enough to earn a contract extension to stay in the Big Apple. That is not the 27-year-old’s focus with unrestricted free agency knocking on the door for the first time in his career, though.
Just like when he would sit in the classroom in Coral Gables, his main focus is doing whatever it takes to get the job done.
“I want to help this team win. That’s all I really care about at the end of the day,” Berrios said. “If they need me to go out and play DB, I’ll do that. Whatever they want me to do that puts us in the best position to win, I’m game for.”
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