10 Players who need a big game in week 2 of the pre-season
With Zach out for the rest of pre-season, will the scare of losing your starting QB for the year concentrate the minds of the coaches and say absolutely no more unnecessary risks? probably not, Carl Lawson will play this week against the Falcons, and so will the starters for at least a quarter, maybe even the first half. Football is a violent sport and injuries can and will happen, but players need that callus of full hitting, but that doesn’t mean Jets fans won’t hold their breath every single play.
1. Joe Flacco
This one goes without saying, I personally wouldn’t start Zach in Week 1 even if he is 100% healthy. There is no way he gets healthy and has a solid week of practice before the first game. We all know what Flacco is at this point, an experienced vet, who knows every trick in the book and what it takes to win a game in the NFL. He is yet to win a game as the starter for the Jets, but in his defense, 4 came in the horrific 2020 season. Salah said he views Flacco as a starter in this league, a potential stretch, but a compliment nonetheless. In my opinion, outside of maybe Minshew or Jimmy G, Flacco is the best backup in the league.
What we would like to see from Flacco is what we have seen in camp; run the offense smoothly, make all the easy throws and just play like a seasoned vet. That’s all, nothing more, nothing less.
QB Joe Flacco
2. Denzel Mims
Oh Mimmsy, why can’t you be the player we all thought you were and want you to be? Realistically, he has a solid chance of making the fifty-three, to begin with at least. That is unless another WR needy team gets desperate. Bears anyone? But, and this is a Vince Wilfork size, he has come into camp looking great and from all reports, with a big old chip on his shoulder. With no COVID-19 or badly cooked salmon in sight, can Denzel really make an impression in these pre-season games? If he does, it won’t be with the starters, but if he is aggressive at the point of attack, works hard in special teams, and has the YAC ability which will separate him from the other slight, smaller, shifty WR the Jets already have, he may yet still make the 5th/6th WR position his. What might be in his favour, Joe Flacco seems to love his as a target, Mims numbers shoot up when Flacco is QB, is there an opportunity for the most polarizing player on the Jets not named Mekhi Becton?
3. Will Parks
Being dubbed the best safety on the team not named Jordan Whitehead can never be a bad thing for Parks. We all thought coming into camp the battle for the other safety position was between Jason Pinnock and Lamarcus Joyner, but turns out, neither of them is leading the charge at the moment. This camp battle is far from over, and the others could still beat out Parks, but as of right now, it’s Park’s job. The Jets’ coaches said this week that Pinnock is freakishly long and athletic and Joyner has the experience, but Parks is making the plays on a regular basis, with another big week in the bag, he may start dreaming of some notable minutes on the field with the Jets this season.
4. Zonovan Knight
We all love the UDFA that goes on to make the roster, with Robby Anderson being the one that always comes to mind, but Knight really has a shot to make it as the 4th RB on this team. Small and shifty is a trait the other RBs on the team don’t really have, he’s going to get a lot of reps over the next 2 pre-season games and he is going to have to make the most of it. La’Mical Perine was the Jet’s best rusher in Week 1 against the Eagles, yes, it’s 1 a pre-season game, but he did look good against the 2nd and 3rd stringers. I think that Tevin Coleman will still be that number 3 RB as Salah loves him and he showed last year he still has gas left in the tank, but should the Jets decide to go into the season with 4 RBs, the battle right now seems to be between Perine and Knight.
RB Zonovan Knight
5. Jabari Zuniga
Remember Zuniga? That guy taken in that really poor Douglas draft? Well, he’s still on the roster and he is actually having a nice camp. It is hard to turn heads on a deep defensive line, but he is making plays. Now, do I think he will make the roster? No, no I don’t, but stranger things have happened. He will need a few monster games and to continue to have big practices to even get his name in the discussion. Another possibility is that he might be a trade chip from Edge needy teams, especially if there is a safety or tackle coming the other way. Big practices and games against the Falcons and then the Giants, he still may make the team as a practice squad player.
6. Calvin Jackson
As mentioned, Denzel Mims needs to have big performances in the final 2 preseason games and to make lots of plays in practice, but the player most likely to make Mims miss out on the final 53 is Calvin Jackson. The Jets will possibly go into the season with 6 WRs on the 53, with the top 4 and Jeff Smith looking to be on the roster. This might turn out to be one of the biggest camp battles until the cut day. Jackson is 5ft 9, shifty and quick, his issue is that the Jets already have an abundance of players like this, and his biggest rival is a 6ft 3 physical, down-the-field YAC kind of player. But there is no doubt, that Jackson has NFL-calibre player potential, and if he keeps making plays he could really make the coach’s decision difficult. If I was Jackson, I would be demanding as much as possible the opportunity for special teams reps, and this is one big advantage over Mims that he should be exploiting. It will be difficult, and basically, he needs 2 perfect, clean games and a big end to camp. Can he do it? I’m not sure, but he will be on the practice squad at his absolute worst.
7. Kickers
This one is self-explanatory; please can we have a competent kicker? Not since Jason Myers have we had someone we knew was going to make the vast majority of their kicks. Pineiro came in last year and did ok, better than we have had in the last few years, but this really isn’t saying much. I love Joe Douglas but by far his biggest mistake is not getting a reliable kicker in 3 years. The fact we now have an actual kicking competition with actual professional kickers, hopefully, this joke of a position over the last 3 years get an answer. Zurlein looks to be edging ahead of Pineiro, and with Pineiro looking like he might miss a few practices with a lower back issue, that gap could widen to a point of no return. It has been.
Kicker Greg Zurlein
8. Lawrence Cager
The Jets have managed to completely revamp their TE position this off-season. The Jets TE room for years has been, simply put, a joke, easily the worst unit in the entire NFL. Now, with Conklin quickly becoming the top target on the team, Uzomah likely to come into his own once we get to game days, and Jeremy Ruckert getting his first TD in week 1 of Pre-season, the Jets could well decide just to go into the season with those 3, but they will likely go with 4. The camp battle for that final TE position will be between Yeboah, Wesco, and Cager. Wesco was making a lot of plays early on in camp but now has gone very quiet, Yeboah has been quiet all camp, so this leaves the door open for WR-converted Cager. Cager will need to prove that his inline blocking is up to par to be a NFL TE, but he clearly has the athletic abilities and ball skills to make it as that other option at TE. He need to make sure he encourages Nick Bawden to cement that FB position, as that then limits Wesco’s ability to get on the field.
9. Tanzel Smart
Smart dominated Week 1 of pre-season against the Eagles,with 2 sacks and one of the nastiest moves I’ve seen in a long time, he has added his name to a very long list of defensive linemen that battling to make the team. Right now, he is on par or ahead of players like Marshall, Sheppard, and Rankins in terms of performances throughout camp. His issue may come down to overall numbers and experience players. The interior defensive line is equally as stacked as edge players, with Quinnen and JFM locked to be starters, plus Michael Clemons looking like he may be impossible to block where ever he lines up. Smart may find it difficult to nail down a roster spot. But, if he keeps playing the way he has been, especially in the next pre-season game, he will surely be assured a sport.
10. Max Mitchell
With Duane Brown in a position to start this season but not play this week, Max Mitchell’s developmental phase looks like it might need to be quickened a little bit. With Jets coaches saying he is ahead of expectations he is suddenly under pressure to be, at worst, not terrible, against starting NFL Defensive Ends. Take what the Jets coaches said with a huge pinch of salt, as these comments did come out between the Becton Injury and the Brown signing. The Jet’s depth is an issue, but with Edoga and McDermott behind him, he may well be getting more snaps than even he thought, especially in pre-season. Does Dose Mitchell need to be a Pro Bowler in his rookie year? The answer to that, luckily, is no, but if he comes out and looks serviceable this early in his career, the Jets staff will be elated that finally some of the holes in this roster may be able to be solved in house.
OT Max Mitchell
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