BUYING or SELLING These Jets Summer Narratives!

Justin Fried and Mike Luciano break down the validity of a handful of New York Jets summer narratives and preview the remainder of the preseason. Subscribe to The Jet Press for Jets news, videos, interviews, reactions, and year-round coverage. TEXT GROUP LINK: https://joinsubtext.com/c/thejetpress Or text "JETS" to 631-818-2594

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Video Transcript

Hello.

Welcome back to the Jeff Press podcast.

My name is Justin Fried, and I'm joined as always by my good friend Mike Luciano.

Mike, what's up, man?

How are we feeling?

First preseason game in the books.

We have a new preseason legend who unfortunately is currently dealing with an injury.

Uh, to happen with them, doesn't it?

It does.

Cade Clubnick taking first team reps today, and we got 2 more preseason games to go, and I think.

11 days until roster cuts.

It's actually, it's wild.

It's, it's flying by so fast.

What's going on, buddy?

How are you doing today?

Well, I mean, the Jets did not beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but they performed decently well against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and they really only lost because Bailey Zappy and The other Brady Cook came in, especially Zay, so I don't wanna Cook was OK. Cook was OK. Zappy, uh, not so much.

Cook was, who would have thought Brady Cook's probably gonna be on this roster again.

That is how, how bad is it if you are like considerably outplayed by Brady Cook?

Like how , how bad is, how bad is it, which is crazy because I remember watching Zappy in New England and he was like a An Actual quarterback.

I don't know what happened.

I forget who said it, but it was Bill Belichick's like final stand in his Hall of Fame resume was getting Bailey Zay to win 4 NFL games, and he made the playoffs with a rookie Mac Jones too.

That was , yeah, that's how you know this guy can, can coach ball.

Truly wild.

So we'll get into some stuff there.

We'll also kind of, uh, take a little bit of a temperature check on the, uh, narratives, for lack of a better word, that have been popping up.

Around training camps, some of them don't make any sense at all, and it's when I'm elected like God emperor of the universe, the first thing I'm gonna do is just ban all fantasy football guys from talking about football because that directive number 1, or number 2, number 1 is, you know, those like really bright high beams the cars have ban that.

OK, that's number 1.

And number 2 is no more fantasy football, so not like, not first of all, I love the optimism of saying when I'm elected and when I'm God, emperor of the universe, yeah, 2.

Not like world hunger or anything like that .

Not peace, you know.

Well, I can't, I can't make that happen.

I'm gonna make, I suppose, you know, I suppose that's true, I guess if you're outlaw things, that's where you start.

That's fair.

Just snap it out of existence.

Yeah, I could do that.

Sure, that's fair.

So, uh, before we get into all the normal stuff, you're able to find us Apple, Google, Spotify, Overcast, wherever you get your podcast, we are there, and on YouTube we're right at 2300 subscribers now.

So if you wanna keep pushing that up, please go do that.

If you wanna like the stream, please do that.

Also, we have a lot more.

Apple Podcast reviews than we had had previously, which is good.

So continue to do that because once we get to 50, that's a big milestone.

We're giving away a Jets jersey.

So if you wanna go be entered into that, please go do that.

We're getting up there, but we would like to hit that that, that's a good like nice round number, multiple of 50.

So let's go and get there.

And also, if you have not signed up for the text alerts at 631-818-2594, that is texting Jets JETS 263.

1818-2594.

You can get information from me and Justin.

Justin's been doing a lot of the heavy lifting early on, a lot of recaps, a lot of practice takeaways, some good information here, and we will not bombard your, uh, your messages here.

You're not gonna get three texts every day.

It's gonna be like every, every bit of Jets info you need and none that you don't.

Texting everyone at, uh, 2 a.m. you up?

You up .

We're sending you up texts from the, uh, the Jet press account, uh.

Yeah, no, it's been really fun.

I just miss her so much.

Wait, this isn't Jets.

Wait, Jets.

Oh shit.

Oh, no, it's been really fun, uh, interacting with all of you guys over the last week or so.

We, we promoted this last week on the show.

We already got plenty of people signing up, uh, and as Mike mentioned, that, that jersey giveaway, if you want another incentive, that's not just talking to us a little bit more and getting our thoughts, uh, sent directly to your phone.

Once we reach 50, uh, once we reach 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts, which I think we're up to like.

21 or 22 right now, so please keep leaving those reviews on Apple Podcasts if you haven't already.

It is a huge help.

And once we hit 50, we will be doing a Jets jersey giveaway for anybody that is subscribed to our free text alerts.

Again, it's a free thing.

It's, we're not charging you.

We're not texting you what up.

We're not gonna hopefully not gonna annoy you.

Uh, we got a few, uh, a few questions, please come back.

I miss you and the kids.

What?

The kids?

This isn't Jets practice news.

You got, if you got a hidden family that I don't know about.

What's going on there, um, but it's, it's fun too because like we mentioned this last week, last week, we can also get some ideas for what you guys want to hear on the show, and today I, I sent out a little broadcast, whatever they call it, blast to everybody, a, a brain blast out on, out on the YouTube in highway to everyone, to everyone in the text group, and we got some, uh, some good comments, one of a couple of which we'll probably talk about today on the show, so you can also help pitch some content for us to discuss.

But anyway, Mike, we'll promote that again at the end of the show.

But for now.

Let's talk Jets training camp.

Let's talk Jets preseason.

Let's talk Jets preseason first because they did have a game against the Bucks.

Uh, we did get to see the beginning of Cade Clubnick, probably not as many drives as we would have won.

I think they said the starters are gonna play 2 drives no matter what.

And then when Geno had the ankle injury, they said , All right, Klubnick's the starter, so he's playing 2 drives, and they didn't really get out of that plan here.

But, uh, Klubnick's obviously gonna be the guy people talk about the most, and I give him a solid to minus.

I mean, he didn't really.

He didn't make any plays that I thought were exceptional, but he didn't make any mistakes.

He looked like he was in command.

It helped that he had great protection in every play cause he was playing with some of the ones over there, but he did, he did not look out of sorts, which would have been tough too, because so many other rookie quarterbacks, Ty Simpson, Drew Waller, even Carson Beck, Mendoza, they all had pretty strong starts, uh, in the preseason.

So if Clubvick was off, that would have been like, oh, of course the Jets got the one who was struggling again.

Uh, he didn't look like that, so that's good.

David Bailey, uh, only played about 6 snaps, but the Bucks were peeing themselves because he had doubled on pretty much every pass rush snap that he had, and then he almost got a sack.

He got a pressure, he almost got a sack when McDonald got there first.

Had McDonald not gotten there, Bailey almost assuredly would have gotten a sack.

So I love the preseason too, because after that game, like all, I think it was like 8 snaps he played on defense.

Every, every film analyst or draft .

The draft guy in the world was analyzing those 8 snaps and trying to use them to justify whatever pre-draft take they had about David Bailey.

It's like, here, based on these 8 snaps, here is why I think David Bailey is a bust and is never gonna be good in the NFL.

Look, he can't even bend around the corner, whereas you got the, the flip side of that.

It's like, look, he was awesome.

They were chipping him every play.

It's like, man, it's chipping and doubling.

Yeah, it's like these are 8 preseason snaps.

These are not, it's not , it's not even a drive.

That's not even a long drive.

No, this isn't.

Even gonna matter in two weeks.

No one's gonna care.

No one's gonna talk about this, but I understand.

And as content creators of our own, we get the need to create content at this time of the year.

So I, I get why it happened, but it's always funny to see.

And also, uh, if I had to pick one guy who probably performed the best though in a surprising way, uh, I didn't know Miami had Twitter shooters like this, but man, Annez Cooper, uh, not, not only was he great, actually Darryl Jackson was not particularly great, so I was a little disappointed there.

But then Annez Cooper.

Picks it up.

I believe he had a 90 PFF grade.

I tell you, here's why I was a believer in Annez Cooper and why I think it's validated, because Mario Cristobal, not only was he an offensive line coach at Alabama for a while, then he went to Oregon, then he went to Miami, and he was an offensive lineman himself, Mario Cristobal, but he had this coach, uh, I believe Alex is his name.

I can't remember his last name.

It's escaping me right now, but he was the offensive line coach and he was at Oregon, and that, that was a factor.

They had Pena Sewell and all those guys.

I think one year their entire offensive line got drafted, like the factory.

Oregon's been an O-line factory.

He brought him with him to Miami.

You've probably seen this guy who's, he's 5'5, maybe.

He's like 130 pounds, but he's the offensive line coach.

And then Miami had this great line this year, and it was Maigoa and Annez Cooper and Marquel Bell and all these guys.

I believe, uh, Blake Brockermeyer, one of the Brockermiyre, Blake or Tommy or James, I think Blake was the dad, so never mind.

But one of the Brockermiyers was the center, and then all these other guys who got drafted.

It's all this guy's work, so Anne Cooper is coming from a A team and a coaching staff that produces offensive linemen that adapt very well to the pros, and in his first action, look, I know it's preseason, everybody wants the rookies to do good, and every time a rookie show slips, they're like, oh, they should start him.

Some people are already saying, look, Annez Cooper, right guard, Joe Titman center, let's get this thing moving.

And look, I don't think that that's gonna happen.

I don't even think that'll happen immediately, but if it's like week 14 and Josh Myers is really bad, I, I don't know, if Anne Cooper keeps playing like this, maybe.

I did see those comments of saying let's, let's start in Ez Cooper.

Just move Tipman over to center.

Who cares, right?

First, I'll say this .

Let's see Inez Cooper play with the second team offense, not even a thing he, he only played with the 3rd team offense.

He wasn't, so he's got, he's got to go beat out Cole Laval first.

He's got to pass Cole Laval and Marquis Hayes on the depth chart before we're talking about him starting, but you can't be anything other than encouraged by his, uh, his preseason debut, and I agree with you, Mike.

I didn't realize Miami had shooters.

That, like, shout out to you.

There were that that tweet I put out about Annez Cooper having like a 90, I was 90.6 PFF grade, which was the second highest graded offensive lineman in in preseason week one across the entire NFL.

Again, with the third team offense, but still encouraging, that got like nearly a 1000 likes.

Like that, the people were, and, and a common comment I saw by both in the quotes and in the replies was talking about Miami being an offensive line factory and talking about how.

They coach these guys up.

I mean, you look at someone like Marquel Bell, major project of a player.

I mean, a physical freak, right?

Which , I know Cooper is also this massive, huge human being, but, you know, you need to coach these guys up.

Cooper, I think was a 3-star offensive tackle recruit that they bring into Miami and he ends up being a damn good starting guard, didn't allow a sack, I think over his last 2 years at Miami, or at least all, all of last year, didn't allow a sack, and obviously, we know what he could do in the run game.

It's exciting, right?

Look, he still is somebody that doesn't have position versatility.

He only played right guard in college and he played that on, on Friday as well, and, you know, there are definitely gonna be concerns about his foot speed at the NFL level.

There's a reason he was a 6th round pick, but who knows, man?

The, the Jets are so overdue to hit on a day 3 offensive lineman starter, like the, the last one was Brandon Schell, and he was a 2.5, 3 year starter.

all right.

He was fine.

I listen, I, I was an OG Brandon Schell fan, like.

I don't know how many people can say that.

I was, I was, I was shooting for Brandon Schell.

I, that was, that was my guy.

Uh, but it's really, really, really been a very rare occasion when the Jets have found even playable offensive linemen on day 3.

Max Mitchell is one of their best offensive lineman picks on day 3 over the last decade, and he's not even good.

No, he's terrible.

He's, he's not, he's not good at all.

He's very, very bad, better than Carter Warren for whatever he is better than Carter Warren, who was another day 3 offensive line pick, but it's, it's like before Shell want one who you could tell.

See, again, this is the thing to bring it back like even in the preseason, you could tell Carter Warren, you're like, I'm not , I don't get it quite yet like Inez Cooper.

I don't know how great he's gonna be, but you're like, all right, physically he belongs in the NFL.

Like he has the ability to make it.

And what I, what I think is gonna be the real test for him is can he handle NFL athleticism, because I don't, I don't count going against 3 stringers, most of whom are not gonna be in the NFL in a couple weeks, uh, you know, going against those guys as NFL caliber athletes, like, cause that, that was the concern coming out of Miami.

It's like, he's pretty, you know , he's pretty heavy, heavy footed.

Right, he's a big dude who's a mauler in the run game, but there are concerns about pass protection, even with the, you know, the pass protection numbers looked really great last year.

There are still concerns about that.

So, I would love to see him playing this week over Cole Laval or whoever at right guard and get this dude some second team reps, see if he might have something this year.

I, I, it's gonna be a red shirt year for him more often, you know, almost definitely barring injury, but.

It would feel a lot, I would feel a lot better about the Jets' offensive line depth going into the season, if Cooper continues the ball out for the rest of the preseason, and he gets promoted to the second team, and he he certainly holds his own, like, I'd feel a lot better, cause right now, it's not great, like Xavier Newman, your backup center, 1, not even a center, 2, not particularly good.

Their best backup offensive lineman.

I, I think it's Max Mitchell, Mike, or it's Chikuma Okorafor or Nez Cooper, or it could be an Ez Cooper, right?

So I would feel a lot better about the, the state of this backup offensive line if Cooper shows that he can handle second team reps and looks the part.

So let's go and do some buying or selling.

We'll do our some Jets Jim Cramer.

Well, hey, hey, we're talking preseason takeaways.

Not that we gotta have a whole conversation, but shout out, shout out, shout out Bamba Island.

Shout out Mo Bamba, Mo Bamba, Maury Bamba, good Mo Bamba.

I don't know how many Jets fans were aware of May Bamba's existence going into the preseason.

Season I was, he was someone I was excited and now the sky's falling because he got hurt.

I know.

Now he's working on the bike in the rehab.

This guy I heard of a week ago was hurt.

Oh no, now we're getting updates of him and Kenyon Siddiq in the rehab area and everyone's like, I don't , I don't care about Siddiq.

Tell me about Mori Mamba.

What's going on with Maury?

It just sucks if you're, if you're a guy like him and you get hurt, you might miss like a couple games and they can just IR.

Mustaes, so you're like, hey, I'm healthy in October, but they're like, No, you're out for the year.

Well, that's what sucks.

Like, I, you know, I, he was always gonna face an uphill battle to actually make the 53 man roster, but I mean he thought 8 games in college.

So yeah, I, I thought there was at least a path after week one, and it would probably come on special teams if he was able to beat out Aaron Smith as like the second gunner, but It's just hard to see that happening now.

I don't, I don't know if he played, probably he's not, he's probably not gonna play again in the regular season, because Aaron Glenn said earlier this week that he's gonna miss multiple weeks with a knee injury, so it's.

I, I can't imagine he makes the team, but should make it easier to sneak him through to the practice squad, developing there.

He does turn 26 in November, so I don't know what kind of developmental upside there is, but he also didn't start funny how Bray and Allen is a 3rd year player who's like 22 and Obama's a 26-year-old rookie.

Baba didn't start playing football until his senior year of high school.

Then he stopped playing football for 2 years or 2 or 3.

Three years was running track at Wisconsin Oshkosh, transferred to ASA College, finally finds his way to BYU in 2021.

0, I thought he did like a mission because he was at BYU.

No, he was, he was running track at Wisconsin Oshkosh, and then he decided to revive his football career, walked on at BYU in 2021.

This dude began his college career in 2018.

That's eight years ago.

Like, that's crazy.

I just saw recently that Max Johnson is gonna be a starting quarterback in college football in 2026 for what team?

For uh Georgia Southern.

So Max Johnson, he went to, was it UNC Minnesota?

He was, he was Joe Burrow's backup LSU.

LSU.

He was, he was the after Burrow COVID year.

Did he also play at Minnesota and UNC, or I think that's else?

OK, he's played at both of those schools where, because that's where I'm getting reminded of that now, because with that new law where it's 5 years max, like those guys are dying out.

So my God, Jesus Christ.

So let's do some buying and selling here.

Also known as when I digitally strangle every fantasy football analyst to death because, uh, Omar Cooper Junior.

Look, look, I, I expected him to have a really good camp.

I thought he's had kind of an OK camp.

Like, he's just, just yesterday, I think it was a Nick Farry had a tweet where he was quote unguardable in one on ones and Jarvis Brownlee was getting demolished by him supposedly, and a bad look for Jarvis Brownlee, but also a good look for Omar Cooper.

And then when he played in the preseason, he looked pretty good, made a couple of catches.

He did.

But I, I literally haven't heard the bad thing I've heard about him, quote unquote, is that Isaiah Williams is beating him out, and I honestly think that that might just be.

Glenn and the coaching staff rewarding a guy in Isaiah Williams, who's been there a while was the team MVP and has gotten a lot better.

Like, I don't even think that's just because Cooper is underperforming.

I don't even think he is.

I just think Isaiah Williams has performed about as well as he could have given this opportunity, and it would suck to reward that with, well, you can be wide receiver 5, so I think that's what Glenn and the coaching staff are trying to do here, which I like.

Now , now there's this fantasy football thing who they never liked the Jets.

Anyway, this draft, because they just, they got a bunch of fantasy football guys that they liked, and then now they're in this kind of unsettled pass catching room where nobody knows who the number 2 target is.

It could be Siddiq, it could be Taylor, it could be Adna Mitchell, nobody knows.

So they're like holding that against the Jets somehow.

Also, they're never bullish and validly, this is valid, they're never bullish on the Jets' goal group anyway, which fair.

I mean, the, the offense has been shouldn't be, yeah.

But then there was this, uh, and look, Josh Norris is a really good analyst.

There was a video that came out of Omar Cooper and, uh, Garrett Wilson doing drills, and he puts out a tweet.

He goes, look at 83 move and look at 5 move.

It's like, well, yeah, no shit, Garrett Wilson's really good.

Like what are we talking about?

What, what point are you trying to make here?

It's like, it's like showing it a side by side of like Devon Achan and I don't know who's like a big power back who's and, and like Tyler Algier, and it's like, man, Tyler Algier sucks.

Look at the way he moves.

It's so slow.

Like Tyler Al is pretty good.

Like he, he's not Devon Achan, but he's, he's pretty good like Wendy Duncan and Miles McBride trying to.

In a life and you're like, oh like this guy, look at this, it's not even close.

It's like, well yeah, like it's like they're very different players and also one of them is an all-star, like one of them's great.

Garrett Wilson is amazing, of course the 7'4 guy is gonna dunk more.

Like what do you, Garrett Wilson is one of the most, of course Garrett Wilson, who's like probably top 10 in the league in terms of pure route running ability, yeah.

Of course he's gonna look better than the rookie, who didn't even look that bad.

Like, give me a break.

He's one of the most fluid movers at the receiver position in the entire NFL comparing Omar Cooper Junior and who, who, by the way, Omar Cooper Junior, again, like, we, we talked about this a lot in the summer.

This is not the time when.

I think he's going to look at his best.

Like he's a, again, like a Quincy Auna type where it's, you, you get the ball in his hands, and just, you can't really see that physicality on display when you're not practicing, and when you're or when you're not practicing at full speed and there's no tackling, like it's just, it's tough.

You're not gonna see the best of Omar Cooper Junior, and like you said, Mike, I think a lot of the negativity surrounding him is.

Should be framed more as positivity around Isaiah Williams.

We just, you know, not to get on a soapbox here, but we happen to live in a very negative society where negativity sells at all times.

And so if there is a positive spin, people will always find the negative spin, and guess which one's gonna generate more engagement.

It's the negative spin.

So, Isaiah Williams doing well and the coaching staff loving him is gonna get spun into Omar Cooper Jr. is having a bad camp, which isn't true.

That's, that's not a factual statement.

And There's some funny historical examples to remember because I, I was really quick before that.

You know what else stinks about this is even if Omar Cooper is like a really good rookie or just because of where he's at, like position wide receiver 3 with Geno Smith and the Jets and all that, he's probably only gonna get like maybe 500 yards on the year, yeah, which is gonna be fine, but oh I told you he's not that good.

Like if you're, if you're at a goalpost moving, but it's also kind of like this is what people do.

A lot of sports analysts on TV do this where it's like.

They either set impossible goals and then they make fun of people when they don't like reach the impossible goal or kind of ring culture where it's like, well, unless you dominate immediately, then you're just not not successful and terrible.

Justin Herbert's a bad quarterback that those people.

Where it's like, oh, unless Omar Cooper is immediately Garrett Wilson level, then he stinks.

Well, that's, that's not true, and that's never been true.

If you're analyzing it from a fantasy perspective, yeah, I wouldn't expect Omar Cooper Junior to be a super valuable fantasy asset in redraft like this year.

So they, but they're trying to, they're trying to have it both ways, correct?

But because, because the phrasing.

The framing isn't like, oh, Omar Cooper Junior is gonna be a bad fantasy asset.

It's Omar Cooper Junior Junior is the worst wide receiver I've ever seen.

Omar Cooper Junior is a hot pack of ass.

This dude shouldn't be on an NFL field, like that, that's the framing of it.

But I was gonna liken it to a couple of historical examples cause others have mentioned this too.

I don't know if you remember, this time in 2020, Justin Jefferson was behind BC Johnson, Ola BC Johnson, on the Vikings wide receiver depth chart, and it was like, oh my God.

Justin Jefferson, you know, he had a really good camp , but it was like, wow, he can't even beat out the 7th round wide receiver, and he, and week 1 came around and week 2 came around, and guess who had more snaps?

Olabisi Johnson did.

And then guess who broke the rookie receiving record that year?

Justin Jefferson did.

Now I'm not saying that Omar Cooper Junior is going to be Justin Jefferson.

In fact, I certainly don't think he's going to be, but it just shows that some of these narratives don't hold up.

Remember when Ja'Marr Chase was drafted and he dropped a couple of passes in training camp, I remember that, and it was like, oh my God, what did the Bengals do?

The Bengals, because it was the whole Penny Sewell, Ja'Marr Chase.

and good right away, right, which Sue's awesome, right?

And you could, and that was like a debate for a few years until Ja'Marr Chase, like fully, although they're both good, so it doesn't matter anyway, correct, you know, but everybody was dying to point out like, oh look, Omar Cooper Jr. is, is, you know, or, or Ja'Marr Chase is, is bad.

Like he didn't even have that yet though.

He just, he just ran slower than Garrett Wilson.

drill.

Yeah, well, again, in, in, in comparing it to the BC Johnson, uh, Justin Jefferson thing, that Vikings staff loved O Abii Johnson, and he's not in the league anymore because he tore his ACL consecutive seasons, and unfortunately that that ended it.

But, you know, that staff loved him, and I think a lot of it was partially, you know, a lot of it was because they loved him so much that he was ahead of Justin Jefferson on the depth charts.

So if you compare it to the Isaiah Williams, uh, Omar Cooper Junior thing.

I really think that's what a lot of this is.

Like, we've talked about this before, we talked about on the show last week too.

This staff adores Isaiah Williams.

They love him as a player, but they love him even more as a person.

They love his attitude.

That dude is out there.

He's like, again, he's 5'10, like 185.

I think I said this last week, but he he blocks his.

Ass off, like dude fights for every snap because he's had to, because he ran like a 46 something 40 yard dash his pro day and went undrafted because he was hurt when he ran that 40 yard dash.

So he's been scratching and clawing for a roster spot for his entire career.

Obviously, we know what his story was with the Jets last year, and he plays like it.

He plays like a dude that is fighting for his life out there, and this staff loves him for it.

So they're gonna give him snaps, and they want him to have a role.

The Jets staff isn't down on Omar Cooper Jr.

They just want to see him earn the starting slot receiver role.

That's all it is.

And I think by week 8, week 9, he will be their number 3 wide receiver.

But I think week 1, week 2, it'll be Isaiah 30.

They picked him where they picked Ja'Marr Chase, you'd be like, OK, I'm, I'm mildly concerned that he's wide receiver 4, but they picked they picked him at 30 in a relatively weak draft class after they took another pass catcher.

Yes, yeah, they took Siddiq over him, who, you know, you wanna get in any pick right now.

Sneak's not even playing, and that's not Siddiq's faults or Pond's not playing either.

It's like Pon's out there, but like Siddiq's not even playing.

Cooper is gonna have a bigger role than Sneak this year, at least that's my prediction.

That's, that's what I would think at this time.

We'll see.

Injuries unfortunately are have hurt have hurt Kenyon Siddiq this, uh, which is a shame because I remember in that period where he was healthy, and I remember Geno was looking his way a lot and like OTAs and then.

I, I do genuinely think the funny part is it's not even gonna matter because I think their base is probably gonna have Siddiq and Taylor on the field most of the time.

Oh yeah, I I'm not even gonna have a, a wide receiver 3 on the field most of the time, or Jelani Woods or Jeremy Ruckert.

Like the Jets.

This is the, the NFL has shifted towards this significant.

Which is why if you go back to like January or whenever, whenever I first pitched, maybe it was like February, whenever I first pitched Kenyon sneak to the Jets and everyone was, oh, it was like around Christmas.

I remember it might have been, yeah, and people like, you're fucking stupid, you're crazy.

You, you said I was, you called me a slur.

I don't know.

You said I was the worst.

OK, that's a little.

You said if you're watching for the first time, I'm kidding, I'm kidding.

He's making a, he's making an exaggeration.

You said all these awful things about me, Mike, and I was like, man, listen, you know, I, I, I, they did it, you didn't even love it.

I think the NFL, I didn't, but I was like, I think this is something they could do, you know, depending on the situation, and it's just the way that the NFL is shifting.

Like you look at a guy like Nate, was Nate Borkircher, that's his name, that's Bor Kercher gets picked 2nd round, Marlon Klein gets picked 2nd round.

These guys who were never receiving threats at all in college, but Teams are just shifting towards 1213, 4, even like 4, like 4 tight ends.

Yeah, like look at the Rams, look at what they're doing right now.

Their, their, their entire like offense is structured around Puka Nua and the tight end.

It's also, it's also anti-labor though, I'll say that much.

What is this whole shit?

Why pay one big receiver when I can get a bunch of tight ends for cheap and just cycle them in and out every year and not have to pay guys?

I don't know if that's, is that anti-labor or is that just like.

Maximizing, I don't wanna pay this guy a lot of money.

Let's just go cheap and cycle these guys in and out.

I mean, from a team perspective, I get that.

We got, we got people funding contracts with tree companies and stuff.

Like, you don't think that's the guy who owns the Lakers and the Dodgers just sold all the sports investments and.

Like a week.

Like that's a different sport, you know, owners are willing to do some weird stuff to say when you, when you, when you got to manage the salary cap, I think it makes sense for roster building purposes.

You're fitting pieces into the puzzle.

I, I, I get it.

I get it.

I don't know if that's anti-labor, but I get what you're saying.

But that's a whole different discussion, um, but yeah, anyway, before we get into that, you wanna talk about Brayn Allen.

Yeah, let's, let's talk about, so, so wait, all right, we'll buy or sell.

Are you buying or selling that Omar Cooper Jr. is the worst wide receiver that's ever played yet?

Uh, I'm selling, I would say.

OK, that's a good thing.

I, I agree, I agree with that.

I agree, but I, but I will buy that Isaiah Williams is currently wide receiver 3 and will be wide receiver 3 week 1.

I will buy that, but I don't think he'll be at the end of the year.

I agree.

I, I agree with that.

So let's go talk about that, who you could not ask for a more golden opportunity to, uh, to have here because Breece Hall is hurt.

Probably gonna be back for week one, but we don't know because Aaron Glenn said like 9 different guys on the roster are gonna be back by week one, and I don't think he's gonna go 9 for 9 in uh in predictions there I got a couple back like sweat's back and O size back and all that, but I, I don't think it's, I think it's where 9 guys all suffered 2 week injuries at once, so might Bruce Hall might miss a game or two.

I, I think he'll be back by week 1.

That's what it, they, they were sounded very confident that he'll be back.

Like if there's any concern for anybody, I think like Siddiq.

Or I mean I think like a VJ Payne probably ends up on IR or you know, which is a shame because I really had high hopes for him, especially the safety room, but I was gonna say, especially given the safety room what we've seen this summer like Malachi Moore completely a non-factor which we can get to that at some point.

We'll get to that, but Braylan Allen, uh, he's at 250 now, which is.

Huge for a running back.

Still only 22 years old.

Isaiah Davis also banged up, so he's really got 250.

He's, he's bigger than, than Will McDonald, who's played at defensive end.

I mean, he's bigger.

He's bigger than, you know, pretty much all the linebackers out there and some of the defensive ends.

So, and he's always been good at getting up to full speed.

And he showed that off in the preseason game.

He had that long touchdown run , and look, I know that you get this every camp because we talked about guys that look good in camp and then aren't as good in games.

Brayon Allen is designed to look awesome in camp because he's so big and you're not hitting everybody hard.

Like if you can't hit everybody full speed and then that guy's coming at you, other than diving at his knees, how is he gonna, how is you gonna tackle him?

If you're a safety in the open field, Braylan Allen is the summer king.

We, we've done this each year with him.

He's been in the league.

This is the 3rd year, and Dane Belton, supposedly, because supposedly with the Giants , he was always Dane Belton also has, had plenty of plays in the regular season.

We've yet to see that from Raylan Allen to this point.

So are we buying Braylan Allen as kind of a, a viable RB1 if Breece is out for a couple games or not?

I'm really in the, I really don't know where to go with this, cause I think part of the problem too with Allen was just he lost all of last year.

Even if he played barely any snaps, like double digit amount of snaps, 1012 a game, 4 or 5 carries a game, that would have at least been enough where I could see, all right, here's where he's at.

I don't know where he's at right now, cause the, the thing with Alan, it's never been physical, it's always been.

He's got this weird like he runs like he's Darren Sproles, but he's huge like it's all like shifting and dancing and cutting it's like you run over people, you're giant.

He doesn't run like a tank.

He does not run like how he looks.

It's just weird like Devin's Devin Singletary runs like how Britt Allen should run and vice versa.

Devin Singletary's 5'8, maybe 200 pounds, over in his head and knocking guys over, dude, I'm serious.

Watch Kyle Menungai tape.

Like that's , that's what Braylan Allen should be doing.

Watch Kyle Monungai tape, and Kyle Mannunga could probably run a little bit more like Braylan Allen, so his head isn't Philly cheesesteak by the time he's in year 3.

So if, so if Braylan Allen, like we got some more like, all right, we'll see where he's at, he's looking more aggressive, he had a big run here .

Like it's good to see big runs in camp, it's good to see it in the preseason, even against the Bucks defense that played a lot of the backups, but I really can't give a definitive buy or sell on this one only because.

It, we still really just don't know how far he developed this from rookie, cause rookie year, you saw talent, you saw flashes, but you're like, all right, this isn't about 2024, it's going forward.

Last year was supposed to be the breakout year, Justin Fields' new coordinator.

Some, some mental giant puts him out there on kick returns, hurts his leg, that whole year is pretty much gone.

He didn't really play that much before that, the whole year is pretty much gone.

So because of that, I, he's the guy I really wanna see.

I would not be opposed to giving him like 15 carries in the next preseason game.

I wanna see as much of, uh, well, he could get hurt.

I wanna see as much of Braylan Allen as possible just to see what we have here because eventually you, you gotta lose the developmental tag.

There's definitely a fine line that they're gonna have to walk with like really quick mustard overlord, a base union man always looking out for the proletariat.

Hey man, like, hey, hey, uh, let the record show that that Justin is also that Justin Fried is also pro-labor.

OK. My grandfather was a union rep for decades over, over at American Standard.

He was a he was like I worked an electrician over there.

He was a union rep for decades, so I have that.

I have that in my, in my blood here.

The Jet Press podcast is pro-labor.

Let's, let the record show.

Let the record show, um, but yeah, I, there's a fine line they're gonna have to walk with Raylan Allen in the preseason because I agree with you, Mike.

Like I want to see as much of this dude as possible because he missed, played what, 5 games last year, 4 games last year, and because.

Because of the stupidest time, because they put him on kickoff, dude, because they could go overboard like the Aaron Glenn is clueless.

That was, I think, the worst decision he made.

Like of all players, it made no sense of all players, not even like relevant to importance to the team, although, you know, it's your backup running back, you want him playing, but like.

It didn't make any sense.

He doesn't have a skill set for it.

I don't think, I don't think he ever did it in college.

It'd be like if they put Will McDonald on kick returns, what do we do?

And Will McDonald, I've at least seen that dude run 60, 70 yards after re uh recovering a blocked kick .

I've seen Will McDonald jump over a car.

I bet he's a better returner than Braylan Allen is.

When you jump over a car, a, uh, a gunner on a special teams, it's easy.

You could do that, dude.

I know he's like, obviously.

They would never do this.

Will McDonald would be such an awesome gunner.

Like they would never do that.

Hey, I did it with Dexter Manly.

Why can't do it Will McDonald.

Low key, maybe there's a, there's a point in Will McDonald's career where he's asked to do that.

He's just see that guy.

Hey, JaMarcus Weston almost made a career out of it.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, JaMarcus Weston, you know, isn't gonna get 10.5 sacks in a season like Will McDonald is.

But if, if McDonald, you're Isaiah, you see that guy running at you full speed, that doesn't.

You, you don't think the Jets are gonna get one like muff punt to go their way cause the guy gets scared.

Will McDonald's gonna deplete him .

If injuries were turned off, Will McDonald, Kenyon Siddiq, your two gunners, just let him go nuts.

You just put Miles Garrett out there.

Yeah, I mean, dude, he'd be an incredible gunner.

he'd be so good at it.

I'd shit my pants if I saw my running that fast with that much buildup.

And he can hit you if you don't, uh, oh, but I am interested to see how much Braylin Allen does play in the preseason.

Obviously they're dealing with a lot of injuries at running back.

Bruce Hall is out, Isaiah Davis is out.

So you right now, they only have 4 active, 4 healthy running backs on the roster.

I thought they might add a body to that room this week.

They haven't done so yet.

So unless they do it today or tomorrow, which if they do, I don't know how much that guy is playing in the preseason.

You got Kenne Wonwu, Braylin Allen, and then your two UDFAs, Chip Trina and Sam Scott, who I thought Sam Scott looked all right.

In that first game, Sam Scott, I know, I know, I saw a few fans be like, oh, you should, let's play him more.

Look, I, I'm pretty sure Scott in like 5 years at Wyoming never had more than like 400 yards in the season.

So like it's a miracle he's running backs too, it's always a thing where every year there's a guy at least of some note that comes in because you have to have the ball.

Lot to be a running back that people know and then Chip Shrine is a notable name, yeah, but like last year, remember Donovan Edwards?

I remember thinking he was gonna make the roster and then he, what was the, the Oregon running back, you know exactly what I'm talking about Troy, no, before that, the year before that, Travis, Travis Dye or Travis was his name.

Oh yeah, he played for like 6 years in college and went to USC for a bit.

Was that his name?

Was it Travis Dye?

Troy Dye is the brother I remember from the Travis, Travis Dye, yeah, Travis Dye.

Uh, it was a big name when I played at Oregon, played at USC, and the Jets pick up, it's like, hey, they might have something here, not an NFL player.

Probably the same with Donovan Edwards, probably the same with Chip Trinum.

Sam Scott in 4 years at Wyoming, his career, uh, rushing high in a season is 435 yards.

He also never had more than 12 catches in a season, and that's a team in Wyoming that is very conservative and runs the ball all the time.

Now, he was a linebacker, believe it or not.

Interestingly enough, Sam Scott actually played.

Linebacker to start his career, he converted the running back his sophomore year of, uh, of over 62, 215.

That is bigger than I think he plays.

He doesn't look like he plays at 6'2, 215, uh, but sure, I, I wanna see the UDFA's got a lot of carries, and I think we're gonna see a lot from those guys because one of them is probably gonna be kept in a practice squad.

We'll see which one it is , or the Jets could just go out and like last year when they lost Donovan Edwards, we figured he'd be their practice squad running back.

Nope, he gets picked up, they bring in someone else.

Uh, who, who did they, I don't even remember they brought in.

Was it Nanggu?

No, no, he was already there.

He was there the year before.

He was there the year before.

They brought him late in the season.

Oh yeah, you're right.

Yeah, that remember in that, that disgusting Jaguars Thursday night game with Chrisreveler played.

Wagu, I believe, had a touchdown in that game.

No, that was, or no, no, Seattle, Seattle, I'm sorry, that was against Seattle.

Yeah, I'm mixing the Jets did have a, that was that streak where they were like ahead in the 4th quarter every game for a month and they lost it all.

Didn't the Jets have a kick return touchdown in that Jaguars game though?

I don't know.

I remember Devonte Adams had a long touchdown.

Did he, no, in that game, in the, oh, no, no, no, word, words , no, they didn't need neither.

They lost that game.

Is this this?

No, is this this game?

Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, they lost that game 19 to 3.

They had no touchdowns.

That's right.

The only points they scored in that game, sorry, the only points they scored, this is way off the only points they scored was an opening possession.

Trevor Lawrence got strip sacked.

It was recovered by Quinnin Williams, and then set up a field goal.

I think we're thinking of different years.

That's probably I'm talking to Thursday night disgusting Streveler to, OK, yeah, we're thinking of different years.

Yeah, OK, anyway.

Uh, so am I buying Raylan Allen stock or am I selling it?

Can I hold?

I held.

OK, I'll, I'll hold and like.

I wanna buy Mike.

I, I wanna buy, and I like everything about him suggests you should buy on this show.

I've become known as the Raylan Allen hater.

I'm not, like, have you?

I don't know.

Have you?

I, I have become, I cause you're the Raylan Allen believer.

I've kind of pushed back on it and been like, I don't know if I, I don't know if I buy it.

Like, so I don't wanna say I'm selling.

I don't wanna say like, oh, we've seen this before in the last two years, let's see if he could do it again.

I would like to see more in the preseason before I fully buy, but I'm like cautiously like.

You know, I kind of sold, and now I'm kind of like peeking around the corner like, should I buy?

Maybe like if you're that fast at 250, like I don't think you're, you could be useless.

I hope not.

There is a level of rare athlete that he is.

Very small sample size, he looked really good in the first preseason game.

Like I that that touchdown where the the 31 yard touchdown where he basically outran the entire Bucks defense.

I don't remember him outrunning a defense like that.

I can't always like decently fast, but you know, if he's above average fast at 250, the thing is when he builds up, he's fast, but it's like the acceleration to get to that buildup.

Like it takes his 20 yard split is probably not great.

Like that would be my guess, but like once he gets to that full speed, dude's tough to bring down, obviously, and he can run fast, but it's like, kind of takes a bit to get to that second gear, although I didn't really notice that in the Bucks game, like that was a touchdown run where he, he kind of cuts back, makes the defender miss, and just bursts away in the open field.

Oh look really good in that.

Now that was against the Bucks backups, but still, by the way, uh, he did not run, uh, he did not run.

I bet he's a 4 or 5 something guy would be my guess.

Maybe he was timed at 21 miles an hour, which is 89th percentile for running.

Once he gets, again, once he gets full speed, he's fast.

I bet he runs like a 4 or 5240 yard dash, which at 250 is crazy.

That's, you know, that's awesome, maybe like a 4 or 55.

Something like that, but like I bet his 20 yard split's not amazing.

People think these numbers.

Like if you ran a 4 or 52, I'd be like, holy shit, Justin, you should be in the Olympics.

You ran track, Mike.

Do you know what your 40 time was ?

He was in the 4 sixes, so, I see, because I remember, I always say like if you're like a skill position prospect that I'm faster than you, then I don't, then you're not draftable.

Like if you run like a 465 as a running back, I, I can't draft you.

This is the second time I'm referencing him, but what was that Georgia tight ends, tight end guy Isaac Nada, Isaac Nada, yes, who ran like a 493.

It was like, I'm like, nope, gone, it's, it's, it's over.

The NFL dream is dead already.

Enjoy LinkedIn.

Uh, I, I wanna talk about the safeties, Mike.

That's exactly who I geared up to.

Sweet.

So right now.

I would say it looks like Andre Cisko, at least to this point, Andre Cisco has had the edge in the safety battle against Dame Belton, and that's not because of performance, maddening to me, right?

That's not because of performance, because Belton has fully outplayed him.

I, I put out a tweet about this today.

It feels like every report we're getting out of practice is like.

You know, Andre Cisco is getting beat for 3 touchdowns, and Dane Belton has 2 pass breakups and like a forced fumble, and it's like, oh yeah, but Cisco is still playing more than Belton.

It's like, why exactly?

What do you make of this safety room?

And we could also tie in Malachi Moore to this too, who Moore is somebody that going into the summer, I know a lot of Jets fans probably wanted him to like, we fully expected even even us, we fully expected him to be in the mix to start, right?

Whether he was gonna start or not, fully expected him in the mix, and he started most of last year and You know, I don't think he was amazing, and it was hard to evaluate anybody in that defense, but he was, he had moments, he was OK.

He looked like an NFL player.

Now, It's not crazy to say this one good thing about him.

He, Mike, he didn't enter the game until the second half on Friday.

There was, you know, who played ahead of him, Dean Clark and Jerrius Monroe.

I, I don't, I don't know what's going on with that, but it feels like he's closer to not making the 53 than he is to actually sniffing the field on defense, which is wild to me.

Well, I think honestly the, the Belt and Cisco debate, I think it's gonna be pointless because I think they're both gonna start and Mina is just gonna be the nick.

Especially with probably both gonna start anyway, especially with Hans missing all this time, like, they're they're clearly gonna rotate a lot of their DBs.

We're gonna see Brownlee in the nickel, we're gonna see Mink in a nickel, and when we see Minkin the nickel, you're gonna have both Cisco and Belton in there.

The unfortunate part about this, and I think I've talked about this in the show throughout the summer, we're gonna end up seeing Cisco unless they have somebody else on this roster who could take over that free safety role, which I don't think Malachi Moore is a good enough athlete to do that.

VJ Payne could, but he's a 7th round rookie who missed the entire summer, so he's clearly not gonna do that anytime soon.

Because of that, if Mink is playing down in the nickel.

Yeah, it's, it's probably gonna be Cisco who's playing as your single high safety, which he's gonna be this year's Michael Clemens, the fan base is dog piles on him.

Oh yeah, for sure, but like.

I saw people mentioning on like comparing it to the Xavier Gibson situation, and I get that, I agree, like, if come week one, Cisco's playing 80% of defensive snaps.

I, I think they have another Gibson situation on their hands, where it's like, well, clearly they didn't learn their lesson, and would I be shocked if Cisco ends up allowing the game winning touchdown and they lose cause of him?

No, cause I, I mean, anything he's put on tape with the Jets last year and anything he's done this summer is not indicative of a guy who should be playing defensive snaps, but he's going to be.

I, I think this is one of those, cause I, I'll give the Jets this like with Glenn firing the coaches and doing a couple of things, like, one thing I've praised this whole offseason is like him admitting that he did things wrong and changing it, which it's better than being stubborn.

But like he's really digging his heel in on this.

Now, fair point, defensive backs coach, defensive coordinator, former defensive back, hit on Brian Branch, hit on Kirby Joseph, got Minka, like he's not, he kind of knows this if he knows anything.

So on one hand, you're like, well, I could see, I could see giving him the benefit of the doubt here, and then part of me is like, well, why is Dane Belton very clearly outperforming Andre Cisco?

I don't even think the coaches would tell you he's not outperforming Andre Cisco.

And if you're so into this being a meritocracy to where you're gonna put Isaiah Williams over Omar Cooper, what is it about Cisco, other than being a great hang?

Could it possibly be that He profiles as like more of a deep rangy safety, and I think it's not that anymore, and Belton's not really that and Malachi Moore is not really that.

I think that's what's saving him 100%.

I think it's specifically a player archetype thing.

It's a role thing.

It's, they don't believe Dame Belton can fill the Andre Cisco role, and honestly, that's probably true.

Like Dame Belton is not gonna be at his best when you're playing him as a single high safety or you're playing him as as a deep third guy.

Like that is totally not what he's at his best, which is why.

I have continued to say that I would rather like D'Angelo Pons, like, obviously we're gonna have to see where where he fits in when he comes back, which that's probably the most interesting part about this and.

I don't feel good about the secondary right now, but if there is any saving grace, it could be D'Angelo Pons once he gets healthy.

But like, yeah, I know Minka wants to play in the slot, and I know he's at his best playing there, like at least it's how he feels, and he was pretty good.

He was really good last year, playing primarily in the nickel or playing a lot of slot reps with Miami under Brian Duker.

But if you want to get your best players in the field.

I think your best secondary is gonna be D'Angelo Pons in the slot with, and I, I, I maintain, by the way, that I still think Pond should be an outside corner long term, but that's not what the roster says right now.

Pons in a nickel, Stevens and Thomas on the outside , Belton in as your like slot-ish defender, you know, safety down near the box, and then Minka as your other safety.

I think that gets your best players on the field right now.

And if you want to throw Brownlee in there too, that's fine.

I think there's, there's places where you can have Brownlee out there too.

Cisco is someone who should be used sparingly, and I just.

I, I get that they want him like that he fills the archetype that no other player on the roster besides Minka really can.

It doesn't matter if you're not good at it.

Like, yeah, Max Mitchell can play.

I know we're shitting on Max Mitchell on this pod.

Max Mitchell can play.

I did nothing wrong and we're shit.

Sorry, sorry, hey, look, he's made 5 years now with the Jets, he's doing something right, but.

He could play, he can play tackle, he can play guard, but just cause you can do that doesn't mean you're good at it.

Andre Cisco is technically they're like center field free safety archetype.

He hasn't been good at it, like not even close, he's been awful, and I just, I fear that going into the season, this is the one position group that I, I feel pretty pessimistic about.

I, I really don't see a ton of optimism with both of these guys.

Pons is the one potential saving grace, but I just don't know where he's gonna fit in when he gets back.

Well, also, like, you want to build the defense in a way that maximizes Minka because he might be your best individual defensive player, minimum.

Yeah, but do you, it reminds me of like remember when Quinnin Williams would play.

Like as an end sometimes for Robert Salah, and you're like, well, it helps get the best players on the field kind of thing, but it's like, well, that's not how you use Quinnin Williams.

That might not be how you use Menka Fitzpatrick at this point is, well, he can do it every now and again, but like, primarily a deep safety.

I don't think that's how, because I think that's what kind of contributed to.

Miami kind of giving him his rebirth and Pittsburgh getting rid of him was Pittsburgh did not want to move him full-time to the nickel, or primarily there.

Miami did, and it worked out pretty well, so you don't wanna go back to it after it worked, especially when Brian Duke, Brian Duker is gonna have some influence, and he was Minka's position coach last year.

I think that they have a good relationship and Duker was probably one of the guys vouching for that move.

I think that's kind of, I think Mina wanted that, I think Duker wants that, I think Glenn wants that.

And you can't, I don't wanna warp all that cause it's just Andre Cisco.

I, I think that's totally reasonable, and I, I, I, I agree with you to, to a large extent here.

My pushback, not even on, on your take, would be if that was the case, if the Jets knew that going into the season, we don't really want to play Mina free safety, we really want him to be our slot defender.

Why did you draft D'Angelo Pons, right?

because unless he's playing outside, where is he playing?

Why you too and was your plan Andre Cisco?

Cause if that was their primary plan, which right now it seems like it was, Mike, like if the goal, and it does seem like right now, didn't they sign him like late though, and yeah, they say, uh, it was, it was a cheap contract.

I forget when exactly they signed him, but it was a one year, it wasn't like day one, it was, no, no, it was later.

No, I'm not saying like going into free agency they thought Cisco be their starting for safety, but clearly going into the draft.

Cisco was like penciled in for them as their starting free safety, and Mino was gonna be a guy that they probably are playing more in the slot while also playing at free safety, and Dane Belton was gonna be competing for, you know, for, for a spot at at strong safety essentially.

That's what it seems like what their their plan was.

And if that's the case.

I have a big issue with that plan, and I do not think that they, uh, that they manage their secondary pieces particularly well, if that is the scenario.

Uh, you know, maybe it's also a case where they got Mink in the camp and they had more conversations with him and the coaching staff saw him out there and they're like, you know what?

We watched him moving around at OTAs.

We're, we're taking stock again on this defense.

Maybe we just think he's better in the slot, right?

Maybe they, they plan to play him more at free safety when they picked him up, and now they're like, maybe he's more of our slot defender.

That's the case.

And if you talk about, if you talk about trends too, I mean, that's the new trend is a big slot defender, Nicky Emmanu and Kyle Hamilton.

That's the trend.

So they may just be trying to fit in with that here.

And, and, and if that is the case though, like, again, you needed to have a better plan for free safety.

Andre Cisco can't be that guy.

After what we saw from Cisco last year, you cannot be relying on Cisco going into the season to play significant snaps for on defense.

And now, especially after seeing what he's doing this summer, where, look, he's, he's had a bad training camp.

We, we, we could call a spade a spade here.

He's been bad.

It's it's Malachi more too.

Let's talk about, sure, because, uh, man, Malachi, uh, Richard McCabe really quick, Meka is not a long term solution past this season.

He's there for 3 years, there for 3 years.

Sign him a 3-year contract.

He'll be here for at least 2 years.

They signed him to a 3-year contract.

He will be on the roster, and I, I think he's more than a hold the fort guy.

A hold the fort guy is like a David Onyamada.

Minka was brought in to raise the ceiling and not just the floor.

Like he is, I mean, arguably their best player on defense.

You make Case the best player on the team, you can make a case he's the best player on the team.

That's a little bit, but I see what you're saying.

Like I don't, I get what you're saying.

He's not like a guy that they're gonna be relying on for 5 years.

I would classify him, and maybe it's just semantics, I would classify him as more than a hold the fort guy.

Like I think Harrison Phillips is a hold the fort guy, right?

Like I think Minka and Demario for the same thing is like.

You know, yeah, these guys aren't gonna be starting 4 years from now, but Brandon Stevens, yeah, but, and, but Stevens is more a whole, Steven, Stevens is less hope for it and more projection that they, they signed him and thought he could just be better with them and He really hasn't been to this point.

He's been , he was playable last year, but not good.

Uh, the, the vets of like Megan Fitzpatrick and Demario, those are like floor razors, but also ceiling razors.

So let's talk about Malachi Moore too.

Uh, we were excited for this pick.

Uh, not only had Aaron Glenn hit on Brian Branch and Kirby Joseph, but Branch, especially versatile, move him around, Alabama guy.

This was kind of like, all right, this is kind of Glenn's archetype of what he likes for these defensive backs, and Moore was like that in college when he started as a freshman.

For Nick Saban defense, he was in a role that they made basically for him, that's very hard to do .

He was the first true freshman defensive back to start for Alabama, you know, you know, since, you know who when, you know who Mike was it Milliner?

No, since Mina Fitzpatrick.

Since Mina, there you go.

He was the first true freshman to start defensive back to start at Alabama since Minka Fitzpatrick, and he played a ton of football at Alabama.

And then the problem comes up because.

If he failed, he was gonna fail because he's kind of a jack of all trades, master of none, and he didn't have great athleticism.

He's like a mid 4 fives I guy.

The athleticism is like the biggest thing holding him back.

Well, that and the fact that , I mean, the Jets honestly didn't even know what to do when they took him, cause he, he did some nickel, he did some safety, he did some this, he did some that, so then you have no home.

Like he, he can't play deep safety well enough to beat out Cisco.

He can't play in the slot well enough to beat out Pons or Mina.

He's not big enough to be like a Deon Buchanan money linebacker kind of thing.

So it's like, well, where do you put him?

I think you nailed it with that comment.

He's not like, he's not, he's probably the 3rd best slot defender.

He's not a good enough free safety to beat out Cisco, which that's saying a lot, but he's not a good enough athlete to play that.

And they have other guys they'd rather play as their, as their slot safety, as their, as their like down in the box line of scrimmage, Dane Belton type of safety, or like a Mina, you know, Minka, where do you put him?

So he's not good enough to beat out any of those guys.

He's not playing on defense, like that's that's what it comes down to.

So let's go talk about Jelani Woods.

Yeah, we could talk about the Jelani Woods hype train was over.

Uh, so are you, wait, are we buying what's?

I'm selling Cisco and more.

I am, you, you're selling both.

You're selling your stock in Cisco and More.

Yeah, I wanna say done like harsh, but I, I, I, I don't believe in them.

Do you think Moore is, do you think Moore is on the 53?

Yeah, but also pain's hurt.

I think that changes, but I think there's a chance that he wasn't gonna make it if Payne was healthy, and honestly crazy, like if you're looking for a shock prediction, cause I feel like a lot of the uh the Jets 53 man roster stuff has been pretty in shock like this, a lot of, a lot of similar projections, a lot of veterans on short deals and if you want a shock prediction, and I'm not saying this is my prediction, but.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna cover my bases here in 11 days if this happens, I, I'll have some balls.

I could kind of claim I was right.

Austrian jet fan with 10 more memberships, the man, the man is here, our, our, our number one listener in Austria, our number 1 Austrian fan, the #1 Austrian jet fan in the world.

Thank you so much, buddy.

We, we always greatly, greatly appreciate it.

Um, to finish what I was saying, if you're looking for a shock roster prediction here.

I could see like a Dean Clark making the roster over Malachi Moore or Jerrius Monroe, strictly because of special teams.

You know more as any special teams ability.

I think the Jets will look at it as, well, we don't want this guy playing a defense cause he's not good enough to play over these guys, and we don't think he's a better special teamer than insert player X, so we're gonna keep them, and we're gonna try to get Malachi more on the practice squad and see if we can keep him there, but we're not gonna prioritize it.

I could see that being the logic if they do cut him, which would be highly disappointing, and I also think there's a good chance he gets claimed cause he did start what , like 10 games last year, so 4th round picks started like 10 games muji.

That day 3 is looking real tough.

Like Muji desperately, and I know it's his first draft, you have the same Membu looks good.

Taylor looks good, but man, well, Membu is the only sure thing.

I was gonna say he desperately needs one of, honestly, he really could use both, like needs both Taylor and AZ Thomas to be starting caliber players for the Jets, cause if not.

That is a brutal first draft.

It's a one player draft.

You, you're getting Malachi Morris might get cut.

Tyler Barron might not never play in another NFL game.

They, they traded up.

They wasted a 5th round, a 2nd 5th round pick to get him.

Aaron Smith might, might, might not make the roster, like.

That day day three is looking awful.

I will say the Patriots, the year they took May had like the worst draft in history except for May, but they got the one guy who mattered.

So well, different when the one guy who matters a quarterback.

No, no, I was, I believe it's 2026 right now.

The only guys from that draft still on the roster are May and the sixth round corner because he was hurt.

He's on IR.

Yeah, every other Jalen Polk, everybody else, it don't matter.

It don't matter if you draft a quarterback who's an MVP candidate in year two.

It don't matter if you get to the Super Bowl.

It doesn't matter.

So let's talk about Jelani Woods.

Let's talk about.

I am not buying Jelani Woods.

Uh, oh, what do you mean by that?

Like not buying, number one, because people are gonna go, oh, I think he could sneak onto the 53 man roster.

I think he, he's probably gonna be on the opening 53 man roster .

Snake, you're making me sleepy.

Well, screw you, Jake.

Don't acknowledge that, man.

Don't know, you know what?

Go sleepy.

All right, well, Jesus, he wanted acknowledgement, Mike.

That's what he was doing.

Go have the fucking homemade nurse go and say stop watching YouTube if that's what you're gonna do.

Jeez.

I think, I think that's a, I think that's like a, a 13 year old Mike who wanted, who wanted your acknowledgement, who wanted your acknowledgement, and you gave him that.

All right, well then hop back on Fortnite, you weasel.

Jeez, weasel.

So back to Jelani Woods.

The jet press very, uh, very endearing.

I wasn't gonna acknowledge, I wasn't gonna acknowledge it.

So Jelani Woods.

A rocker botching again today, says Austrian jet.

I didn't, I didn't see what he did today.

I know the other day he had a, a fumble and a couple of missed blocks.

He'll be on the roster.

I'm, I'm curious to see what his role is gonna be.

I think they're gonna use all four tight ends in some capacity, but you might disagree on your Glani.

Yeah, I think, I think Woods will make it.

I think only because Siddiq is as hurt as he is, sure, and I think that we talked about this just recently with Braylin Allen about.

Guys who are meant to look good in training camp, I mean, Jelani Woods is meant to look really good, big, strong guy.

I, I believe before Zach Koontz, I was about to say record, yeah, yeah, well, I believe before he broke his record for RAS among tight ends, that was the guy whose record he broke.

He was the Zach Koontz before Zach Koontz, and then he basically, he didn't play for 2 years.

Actually, you could probably say 3 years because he was on the team like but barely played, so it's been pretty much 3 years.

Since we've seen Jelani Woods even be an average player.

Now he's making highlight catches and he's working hard.

I don't doubt that he's working hard or that he's, you know, a bad guy or anything.

I'm not saying that.

And there's the Frank Wright connection and there's a Frank W Reich connection.

Did he draft Woods?

Yes, yes, he did.

OK, so there we go, and there's, there were, I believe there were reports around that time too saying that Frank Reich pushed for Jelani Woods.

So there is that, but I think Jets fans, and they do this a lot, and like we're seeing it with with Mo Bamba already, like, hey, call him his real name, it's Maury Bamba.

They're putting the cart before the horse a little bit, like I think they think Woods is gonna make a bigger impact than he will, even if he's on the team.

I think Woods could be a solid like 3rd tight end.

They're gonna use a lot of tight ends, but I don't think they're gonna use the 3rd tight end enough to really make much of an impact.

And even then he's got to beat up Jeremy Rucker, which he can do, but I know Rucker's got extended recently, and he's got familiarity with the team.

He's a better blocker than Jelani Woods, so if they want to just make him kind of a fullback and compete with Andrew Beck, they can do that.

I think he's, he'll be good for some highlight reel catches.

He'll be a fun practice squad guy, but in terms of like, oh, Jelani Woods can be a weapon in the passing game this year, they drafted Kenyon Siddiq and Mason Taylor in back to back years for a reason because those are gonna be your long-term tight ends, and Jelani Woods is not gonna factor into the picture.

I mean, I don't think Jelani Woods is gonna be top 6 on the team in targets.

Like I, I don't think that's gonna be the case, but I, I do think he's making the 53, which like if you go back a month ago, that probably was not in most people's projections.

Now it's pretty clear after he's had a really good summer and Uh, you know, he has clearly been the guy that with Siddiq out, who has benefited the most, because I do think the Jets, and I've said this before on the show, I think the Jets view Woods as the 1 to 1 backup to Kenyon Siddiq.

By way, Tyler Warren got hurt in practice today.

Speaking of tight ends, groin injury.

Uh, but, uh, I think the Jets view Woods as they like primary backup to Kenyonne.

So if Siddiq misses any time in the regular season, whether it's because of this hernia related thing or it's something else, right?

Obviously knock on wood, but if he misses any time, I think we're seeing a lot of Jelani Woods.

Now.

Iflani could be an end zone monster, says Austrian 100% he can.

He could be, but I mean, it's been almost a half decade.

Three years in the NFL is an eternity.

It is, but that's the last time we saw him even really be kind of a difference.

I saw amazing in Indy .

He had some moments.

I saw Connor and Joe talking about this on Badlands.

I think it would they put the projection at 1.5 touchdowns, 1.5 receiving touchdowns for Jelani Woods.

Would you take the over on that or under?

No, under.

I'm tempted to go over Mike.

Andrew Beck had 2 touches.

Yeah, we're really gonna argue if he's gonna get 1 or 2 touchdowns of the argument.

Andrew Beck had 2 receiving touchdowns for the Jets last year.

You don't think by like week 17 they're throwing Jelani Woods out there and he's catching a touchdown.

Two of them maybe.

I, I totally think it's possible.

I'd be, I don't know he's gonna be like I have a huge role in the offense, but like you talk about like beating out Rucker too.

I don't even know if he's competing with Rucker.

I think they all just have different roles, like the tight end position has evolved to such a point in the NFL now where there's just, it's like 4 different positions in one.

Like you got, you got your big slot, you got your traditional Y, you've got an H-back, you've got like a more traditional inline blocker, like a Jackson Hawes type, like, there's so many different types of tight ends that one, it makes evaluating these guys weird coming out of college, which is how you get a Nate Borkerger, uh, or, or a Marlon Klein selected in the 2nd round, right?

Or like a Harold Fanning going to the 5th round, right?

Cause these guys are just filling completely different roles.

I, I think Jelani Woods and Jeremy Ruckert are just very different players .

I, I think if Siddiq is out.

Wood steps in and it's probably a decent part of the offense, cause they view Mason Taylor, I think, as a guy who can't, honestly, in the in that first preseason game, they were play were splitting Taylor out more than I thought they would.

Like I think they can play him in a slot sometimes, but I, I think they want him to be like a traditional wide tight end, like a guy who's kind of lining up in line, who could be a, a dirty block, you know, get down dirty and block and can also play, you know, and it could also have functioned as a receiving threat too, and it's like a safety blanket for the, the quarterback.

I think that's kind of how they view Taylor.

Ruckert is kind of that, but more leaning blocking than receiving.

Siddiq is somebody I think they want to play all over, and I think Jelani Woods is somebody that they could also use in a similar way, and I, I don't think Woods is ever going to be a particularly great blocker, which is funny for a guy who's 6'7, 255 pounds.

He's just not been his calling card.

I, I think he's 6'7, 255.

I think that's what Austrian Jets fans, Glenn said they all have different traits.

They do.

Glenn is absolutely correct, they all do.

Like even also like, I like Ben Johnson does a lot of tight ends, but you also have a Colston Loveland who is just who can do everything.

So yeah, no, again, I, I, I will point to like what the, what the, the Rams do with their tight ends like the Tyler Higbie and and Terrence Ferguson and Uh, Davis Allen, Colby Parkinson was Clair.

Max Clair, they just dra, he was like a 2nd round pick, right?

Max Clair?

Yeah, he's like their 5th string tight end, right?

Well, they just drafted Terrence Ferguson in the 2nd round last year.

Ferguson is almost gonna be that like Harold Fannon type of that offense, where I think they look at him more as like a slot receiver, a big slot receiver as opposed to like an inline tight end, but that's just how the NFL is going.

So like the days of looking at it as who's the 1st string tight end, who's the 2nd string tight end.

Not really a thing anymore.

It's kind of like running backs, right?

We, we went through that, that, that revolution with running backs already, and I think the more specialized football becomes, there's still a bad we're arguing Braylan Allen is the backup to Bruce Hall, and there are, there are some, but there's not a lot of bell cow backs in the league.

The Jets are currently in a situation where they have a guy who's just definitively better than everyone else, but You know, I'm not saying that every tight end room is a committee.

Like that's not a, that's not what I'm saying.

Like George Kittle is the top tight end in the Forty-Niners, you know, like Trey McBride ain't taking snaps away.

No, Trey McBride doesn't have to worry about Elijah Higgins or whoever else is behind him in that Cardinals tight end room.

Like it's Brock Bowers, well, although I mean, you, you look at the Raiders, they use plenty of Michael Mayer.

They Brock Bowers, but they also really like Michael Mayer.

They use AJ Barner role from Seattle last year.

AJ AJ Barner and, and, and, uh, and Elijah Arroyo.

Thank you.

I was gonna say no a fan, but he's not there anymore .

And Elijah Arroyo splitting time in, in Seattle, and Barner is a guy who came into the league is like, this is a blocker.

We'll see if he can play, play as a receiver, and he's become a good tight end.

I just, I just think that's the way that a lot of these positions are going and especially tight ends, so.

I think if you're a Jets fan looking at it is like, oh, who's the starter, Kenyondiq or Mason Taylor?

Oh, it's Jelani Woods or Jeremy Rucker the backup.

It's like, they're all gonna play, like, yeah, some are gonna play more than others, but they're all filling different roles in the offense, if that makes sense.

So David Bailey.

Yet another David Bailey topic.

So I, what I wrote down on what we were talking about or before the show, I said David Bailey, Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite.

Do you buy or sell that he should be considered the Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite right now?

Well, he was the first defensive player drafted, so that, that gives you an edge.

Really the top three, depends on what book you go to, but it's basically David Bailey, Arvell Reese, and Ruben Bain, uh, in some, and they've all had really, all those guys have had really good summers.

They've all had really good summers.

Uh, Bain, I think, has looked really good too.

Uh, I, I think I'm still confused how he went 15 other than just the arms.

Oh, well, that's what it was.

That's literally it was the arms.

It was the arms.

That, that's, I would say Bain has had the best summer of those three, and that's not to take anything away from Bailey or Reese.

Bain has been awesome this summer.

Against the Jets he got Membu a couple times, you know, and Mem Membu hadn't gotten beaten by like anyone all summer.

He, he had like had barely beat him once, I think, but barely.

Like it was like Membu had been like the best player in the Jets roster all summer, and then he goes up against Bain and he got the better of him on Tuesday, and then that Wednesday practice, Bane, Bane definitely got the better of him.

It was the first time we'd seen Membu look human this summer.

So, I would say, honestly, yes, only because I think David Bailey is in a position to lead all these guys in sacks, and counting stats are what these awards are decided on a lot of the time, especially Rookie of the Year.

Like I think Orville Reese is gonna be a linebacker and look, he's gonna be really good, but unless he just has one of those film guy, hey, check out Orville Reese, and he kind of, he kind of athletic football shows his way into a second team All-Pro or something like that, then, then I don't know.

Then probably, yeah, if he's just Fred Warner reincarnated, then you know, he's gonna win it.

But so I think it's Bailey and Bain they are the favorites and I think the Jets are in a position right now where I think like right now even if Bain's the better player, I think we said this even when we were doing the big comparison episode where it was Bailey versus Bain versus Reese.

I think we said it probably should not surprise anybody if David Bailey ends his career with the most sacks or ends his rookie year with the most sacks.

So because of that, I think that's a factor that's going towards Bailey as Justin's cat, uh, trying to show his opinion, the official cat of the Jet Press podcast.

Hey Munch, what do you think of Ruben Bain?

Hi buddy, he's right in front of the camera rubbing himself all over my mic as it moves.

I don't know if that, I don't know if the sound is picking that up.

Um, I would say right now.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna sell just cause I think Ruben Bain wins it.

I think that's not , that's not to say Bailey's had a bad summer.

In fact, I think Bailey performance wise, probably outside of Membu may have had the best summer.

I think Bailey has had a very good summer.

I, I think Bain is gonna be on a better team and part of a better defense.

I think the Jets secondary is really going to potentially limit what their pass rushers can do, cause I, I'm pretty low on their secondary right now, and I think there's just gonna be a lot of times where, man, Bailey doesn't even have a chance to get home cause the secondary is, uh.

You know, they're they're they're getting shredded.

Uh, I think there's a really very real chance that that's happening.

So because of that, I'm gonna take Ruben Bain as the, uh, as my personal defensive rookie of the Year favorite, but I think Bailey's gonna have a good rookie year.

I think he's gonna finish with anywhere between 6 to 8 sacks, I think it seems reasonable for Bailey's rookie season, um.

And I think after this year we're to say, hey, look, you get a better secondary in there, you get an actual number one corner, you get actual NFL safeties, it's not just Mina Fitzpatrick, wherever he's playing, right?

Then yeah, maybe, maybe Bailey can be a double digit sack guy every year, right?

A perennial double digit sack on top of, you know, him taking another step.

Uh, you wanna see him look solid enough as a run defender.

Like he can't be Will McDonald out there, and I don't think he will be.

I think he's already a better run defender than Will McDonald, low bar, but still, like the lowest bar in the league as long as you see, yeah, literally, yeah, as long as you see the flashes of that passer's potential.

You see him get home quite a bit, and then the tape shows more plays where he should be getting home if the back end was able to hold up just a little bit longer.

I'll feel pretty good coming out of his rookie season, but that doesn't mean he has to win Rookie of the Year, and I think if he's gonna win Rookie of the Year, he probably has to get double digit sacks this year or at least pretty close to it, cause I think Bain is gonna be awesome, and I think Reese is gonna make a ton of splash plays.

Like he's just a, Reese is such a flashy player that even if there's lapses in between.

You're gonna get those slash, those splash plays, and they are going to be played week after week on the highlight reel, whether it's forced fumbles or, you know, just , you see the, the play in that preseason game.

Well, to be fair, he never had one in college, I believe.

Is that one of the knots he never had a turnover in college?

Oh, he might not have, I'm not sure, but did you see that in that first preseason game, the, I forget who was running, I forget who was running the ball.

But it was that like he met the running back right at the line of scrimmage and just like, it's like a huge clap.

It was like a a a boom echoing.

That's, I think you're gonna get a lot of that from Marvel Reese this year, and because of that.

Yeah, I think Bailey's gonna, you know, he's, he's gonna be, he's gonna have to get like 9 sacks this year to win Defensive Rookie of the Year.

I think people may have overdone the whole like pass rusher thing.

He may just be this like hair on fire Mike Singletary linebacker who just happened to rush the passer a lot and be good at it.

It is kind of weird that, and I really like the Giants' draft class.

Like I think they had a lot of really good value picks in that.

It is weird that their first two picks are.

Both guys that they kind of want to play at a different position than what they're playing right now.

I kicking the guard.

Maino is a guard, but they probably want him at right tackle long term.

And then Reese is off-ball linebacker, but you know, it's a good chance they try him at edge long term.

It's a little weird, like, really good draft.

I like it can be tough if like Harbaugh gets fired because then like a, a new staff could come in and then have a completely different idea how to use them, yeah.

And that can be tough.

So before we get to our last one , we're gonna actually go and answer, I think, a question from our Twitter chain over here because of Twitter chain, text chain, excuse me, the Jets alerts.

So if you wanna text JETS to 631-818-2594, you can ask us questions like this.

If the Jets are going to draft.

The quarterback anyway next year, why not have Cade Clubnick start 10 games if Geno starts off 2 and 4 or 1 and 5, why not give it to Club and see what he can do?

Obviously if Geno is lights out, keep it going.

Love you guys.

Well, thank you, much appreciated again.

Thank you.

Uh, we, we will try to do this every week that if you guys have questions you want to see us answer on the podcast as long as they are within reason.

Don't ask weird shit, you know.

Don't ask like what color is my underwear.

Like real questions.

No, no weird shit, um, but stuff like that, we are, we are happy to answer.

So, I mean, I think the, the obvious answer here is what we've talked about a lot is what is best for the Jets organization isn't necessarily going to be what aligns with what is best for the current regime because the current regime wants to save their jobs.

Specifically, Aaron Glenn wants to save his job and There are 3 scenarios where the Jets will turn to Kate Klubnick at some point this year.

One is Geno gets hurt, obviously that's the obvious scenario.

If Geno gets hurt at any point, Klubnick will be starting games, assuming he is QB2, which all signs indicate starting games, you know that all signs indicate he will be right now.

Uh, so that's scenario one.

Scenario two is if Geno is really struggling, like really struggling, and to the point where they actually think that Klubnick is a better option for them, which I don't think the average Jets fan realizes how much it'll take to get to that point.

Like, I, I don't think the Jets think Klubnick is ready to play football, even if, even if they're higher on him than the consensus, I do not get the sense that the Jets want Klubnick playing games right now.

They do, they do not, they, they believe he's a developmental guy who is not somebody like they draft him in the 4th round.

He was like a consensus 6th round pick.

Trade it up for him though.

Trade it up for him, sure, but they don't want him playing right now.

So unless Gino would have to be so unplayable early this season, like you'd have to be like 9 picks in 4 games, like worse, worse than Vegas.

Like I think he'd have to be worse than he was in Vegas to get back, totally done where he can't even be a backup, like completely done, which I don't think he is yet.

So that's scenario two, and then scenario three is they're out of the race, they're out of contention, they want to give Cluni a look.

The issue is when that happens, you know, they better hope it's towards the end of the season , but if it's, if it's if it's not, everyone's getting fired.

If they're out of the race going into December.

That's it, man.

Glenn's gone.

Glenn might be Glenn might might not make it through the season, you know, if it's, if it's that bad.

So those are the three scenarios that it happens.

I get as a Jets fan being like, oh yeah, let's just start clubbnick, and if they go 2 and 15, who cares, right?

Then, then you get the first pick.

This Jets regime can't operate that way.

They're not gonna, they, they, they can't, they're gonna lose their jobs, so they would never make that decision.

I get as a fan, let's be honest too.

Let's say they go 3 and 14 to get the number one pick again, and I know they would get a new.

I know they get a new staff and arch and all that.

Why would Garrett Wilson want to stay around for that?

And if they go 3, why, why would Mica Fitzpatrick want to stay around for that?

Like all these guys that they added, because I, I get that there's like rookies that people are excited about.

Number 1, if they got the number 1 pick, that means all of them were pretty bad.

Yes, that's the like, I don't, and number 2, like all these veterans that you like, they're all gonna be gone if they're bad again.

So they're gonna have to start from scratch again.

What I don't get, and this is a, there's not a large percentage of people who think that who.

Who behave this way, but there are some, the Knicks enough that we have to acknowledge it.

The Knick Spanos of the world on Twitter who just perpetually want the Jets to tank forever, right?

Like you see the one where he said to trade, what did trade, not trade ban everyone.

He, he put out this whole, I, I forget what it was, it was a whole tweet where he's like, trade all these players and you get like 4th and 5th and 6th round picks, whatever.

Like it was somebody they drafted this year.

It was like Siddiq or somebody.

If the Jets win 234 games this year, they're so far away from contention that it doesn't even matter if they get a young quarterback.

That's not what you want.

That means guys got hurt or guys regressed or guys sucked and the guys you just drafted aren't good.

Like, you don't want that.

If you want, if you're drafting a young quarterback, you want to be like, all right, if we draft this guy, we can be a sneaky team in 2027 and fully contending by 2028.

That's the thought.

That's what you're hoping for when you're drafting a young quarterback.

But if you're bringing that quarterback into a situation, hold on.

If you're bringing that quarterback into a situation where they've won, where you just won three games.

The odds are so unlikely that you're anywhere close to contention.

That's not what you want.

Were the Patriots.

The Patriots got an MVP level quarterback immediately, an A+ coach, and then had like 5 A+ free agent signings all in a row and got crazy good schedule.

All of that happened at once, correct?

And the narrative was they don't deserve to be here.

They got super lucky to be here like.

Everything has to align for you, and you know what, that happens for teams like the Patriots, doesn't happen for the Jets .

In fact, it's quite the opposite a lot the time for the Jets.

It, it aligns against them, right?

It's, it's an anomaly to roster build the way that the Patriots did.

We clowned them for building the way that they did in free agency, right?

Like, and their drafts weren't even particularly good.

But I mean 2024, literally it was Drake May and then their 2nd and 3rd round picks aren't on the team anymore.

It's 2026.

It's an anomaly.

Didn't matter.

They just hit on some pretty uh really good coaching staff.

They got an MVP caliber quarterback in year two.

Like that doesn't happen in career.

It rarely, rarely, rarely, rarely happens.

So I just, I don't get the fans that want them to win 3 games this year, right ?

Like I just, it doesn't make sense to me.

Are you sick, aren't you sick of this?

Aren't you sick of the losing?

I think it's just their star for a quarterback is what it is.

Garrett said 8 picks after week 4 in the season is a wash for Gino.

I mean, it wouldn't be good, but he'd still be starting.

Like he, he was 8 picks, and I don't think that'll do it.

Like, if they, once they turned the ball over to Klubnik.

That's it.

You're probably not going back to Geno.

And so this staff, and so this staff is then saying we think Cade Klubnick is the better option to win football games right now than Geno Smith.

And I, I think it's gonna take a lot more than 8 picks, and it's suck like 88 picks in 4 weeks is not good.

It's 2 picks a game.

That's bad, but I, I, I'm just saying like the we're we're thinking of like, you know, you'd have the worst scenarios here, like completing 3 passes in 3 quarters in week 2, but that won't happen, yeah, yeah, like, like Justin Fields, like the, the worst of Justin Fields, but he does it 4 weeks in a row.

Then it's like, OK, 4 Broncos games in a row, that they can't function like the.

Offense can't function.

We, we'll give Klubnick a shot .

He can't be worse because they're also, they don't wanna, they don't want to go to Club before they think he's ready.

That's another part of it too.

Like, they don't want to put a young quarterback in a situation where he's fully overwhelmed because if you're, if you're going week 5 and you're saying, yeah, we're already gonna start our, our 4th round rookie over the veteran that we brought in, first of all, that's a message to the locker room that you're in complete panic, you're done.

You're, you're in complete panic mode, right?

Then you're going, all right, well, we really, we really have to trust the psyche of this young quarterback.

That is, that's, that's a really wasn't even that good last year at Clemson.

That's a tall ask of Klubnick like that.

I, I don't think that's fair to him.

I think that's putting him in a really bad situation.

Like we will see Klubnick at some point.

We will.

Brian Sternbeck says, I really didn't think Klubnick was much more than a camp arm pre-draft.

A lot, a lot of people thought the same thing.

The Jets were a lot higher on Clubnick than I think most draft analysts were, and then I think a lot of other other NFL teams were.

They, I thought he'd get drafted.

I didn't think he'd get drafted in the 4th round after a trade-off.

I, I love that comment back to back with this, where it's Cade will be our franchise guy.

He'll start week 5.

Well, that's why he has bozo in his username.

Hey, now, listen, he's optimistic.

The, the duality of Jets fan.

I love that there's optimistic, and then.

There's, then there's bozo in the username.

Who knows how serious.

I will say this though, like I've gotten pretty versed in kind of beat reporteres and jetsies in terms of talking about how quarterbacks are performing, and we've seen all manner of quarterbacks, especially guys picked in this rank, Bryce Petty's and James Morgan's and all that.

Like we've heard all the reports about how they've played and everything like that.

Like I, I know we're not getting the full picture, but it seems to me.

That Klubnick is kind of above where those guys were.

Now that bar is not very high, cause Bryce Penny was very bad in the NFL, but like, the concern when you take a quarterback, most teams don't have this, the Jets fans have it.

Is like, oh, this guy just can't play in the NFL cause we've seen that with Hackenberg and Petty and guys like that, like, oh, Matt Sims, this guy can't play, he's really bad, can't play.

Klubnik, it seems right now has avoided that.

Now, I'd like to see him get some more action.

I want to see him play the entire first half when they play the Steelers on Friday.

I would like to see, honestly, some things go wrong.

I want to see how he looks and protection breaks down.

I wanna see maybe if he makes a pick, how he responds to that and all that.

But it seems like he's in a better position than those guys , and it seems like he's more ready to play if he's forced into action, which I think is good , cause that's, I think that was part of the appeal of Klubnik too was maybe the ceiling is lower.

But I think there is kind of a, I've, I've brought this up a bunch, Aidan O'Connell, I keep saying, if they get Aidan O'Connell out of him, I think that's a good pick, and I think that's kind of a good comparison.

He just moves around a little bit better.

Uh, uh, NYJ Bozo again says analysts had him as a first round talent in 2425.

I'm not saying he's not talented, but then the season happened and he regressed, right?

The, the Christian Hackenberg is a first round talent before that too, because otherwise you just say the season didn't count.

You just take him, but, but it has to count.

Clemson was awful in 2025.

The Clemson offense was terrible in 2025.

Drew Ovi should have gone number one overall if last year didn't happen.

Clemson offense was terrible in 2025, and, and they had a lot of talent there and a lot.

All his fault, but also he's the quarterback.

Some of it's his fault.

A lot of it was his fault.

Like Klubnik was, I wouldn't say a lot.

I, I don't think he was reason number 1.

I think he was reason number 1.

Well, I think he was a big reason why, a big reason.

The quarterback regressing significantly, I think, is a big reason why the the line and the coaching and the literally every Peter Woods, even on defense, everybody, nobody was playing well at Clemson.

Brian said a funnier way to look at it would be that the Jets spent the 7th on Geno and a 4th on a 4th plus on Klubnick in the same offseason.

Yeah, they, I mean they did, but also what were the alternatives, I guess is the way to put it.

Uh , I mean, if you had an alternative for backup quarterback, that's, you know, it's different, like.

I look, I think we're waiting, I don't wanna say wasting all of this conversation on they're gonna draft a guy next year anyway, because Jets, like, and, and obviously this is just the nature of any NFL fan base when your team drafts a young quarterback, especially when you don't have a long term starter on the roster, like you're gonna latch on, you're gonna say maybe this guy could be the starter.

The Jets don't even think Kate Klubnick is a long term starter in the NFL.

I don't think they drafted him with the intention of him being that.

In fact, I'm confident.

They did not.

They want him to, they would take him in the first round, but they want him to be a long-term backup.

If Cade Klubnick is an NFL caliber QB2, that's a success.

That means this pick was a win.

They, they succeeded with this draft pick.

If he's anything more than that, hallelujah.

You're throwing a party.

You're doing backflips.

You're freaking out, right?

But that so rarely happens, yeah, unless you're getting a Dak Prescott or Russell Wilson or you look into something like that.

Brock Gardner Minho is one of the best day 3 quarterbacks of the last like 15 years.

I'm not even kidding that's Gardner Minho, and he's not even a good QB2 at this stage.

At points he has been, I would say he's an average QB2.

He used to be.

He used to be a pretty decent starter.

I agree.

I agree.

At this stage he's, it's been, it's been a bit, it's been a bit, yeah, it's been a while, yeah, but he's, he's an NFL caliber quarterback.

If you get NFL caliber quarterback play again, Aidan O'Connell, that's a success.

That's a success with with the Cade Klubnick pick.

You don't, they're not drafting him to be a starter.

Bozo again says, uh, why skip to grab him and Mendoza isn't starting either.

Like why trade up to get Klubnick if you don't think he's gonna be like a piece of the long term.

They traded up to draft Tyler Barron.

What's your point?

They thought another team was gonna take him, and they wanted him, so they, they, the, the Jets very clearly earmarked him for the QB2 role.

That's what they want him to be.

They want him to be their backup quarterback.

They are under absolutely no illusion.

You don't take a quarterback in the 4th round with the intention of him being a starter.

They are under, if he turns into one, great, but you don't go and say, we're the, I would say probably the top 50 picks.

And even then the 2nd round is getting debatable because outside of Jalen Hurts.

And maybe like Tyler Shuck, how many like day two quarterbacks have been great starters.

They're not taking a guy that early, you don't think he's gonna be a franchise guy.

I, I too, well, you don't think he's gonna be.

I, I disagree somewhat by saying, I think there's different archetypes of quarterback you could take.

If the Jets traded up to draft Tayle Green instead, I would say, yeah, they probably see some developmental upside with him and, and think, you know, if the 1 percentile outcome, you know, or like a 100th percentile outcome hits, yeah, maybe he could be like a, a fucking really good starter in this league.

Uh, with Klubnikick, they clearly don't view him as a long-term starter.

Like, even in his ceiling hits, what the hell is he?

The 30th best quarterback in the NFL?

Like that's real realistically, that's what you're looking at, and that's great.

If you get the 30th best quarterback in the NFL in the 4th round, that's awesome.

That's a wonderful pick.

That's a fantastic pick.

And, and then Bozo is is now naming the biggest, like, the biggest outliers ever, Tom Brady, Kurt Warner, Dak, those are.

Bryce Petty, so insane.

James Morgan, Jordan Travis, Taj Boyd, a million other, like you literally for every good starter you find that you probably find 50 who are backups or don't make it.

The, the that that's the odds.

Now look, if it happens, that would be fantastic.

I would be Kate Klubnick's biggest fan.

And we, I look, I liked what I've seen.

I didn't really like the pick that much, but I liked what I've seen from him so far.

The rationale behind the pick is they wanted an NFL-ready QB2 who can not only be a long-term cheap, affordable backup on a rookie contract, but clearly somebody that can also be a backup quarterback this year because they didn't have another backup quarterback on the roster this year.

If you drafted a Tayle Green while his The upside is undeniably higher than Cade Klubnicks, and he's significantly more physically talented.

He's not somebody that I think they felt comfortable and rightfully so, they shouldn't feel comfortable taking QB2 reps as a rookie.

Now, whether they should feel comfortable at Klunik in that role, that's a debate.

I don't feel super comfortable.

The Jets feel more comfortable than I do at the moment, and they've seen him in camp.

So maybe, you know, maybe there's a reason they feel comfortable, I don't know.

But.

Clearly his type, the type of quarterback that they were drafting when they drafted Klubnik, and the reason that they prioritized him and valued him and traded up to draft him is because they believed he can be a long-term cheap backup and a backup in the short term, which at that point in the draft.

There were probably weren't any other guys on their board that they thought could fill that role.

That was gone.

Beck was gone, not because they wanted him.

Like they think he's a long-term starter.

Like that is not why they traded up to the draft.

It's just not why they drafted Garrett Goodlander, who is better, Jordan Travis or Klubnick as a prospect?

As a prospect, Jordan Travis, he just got hurt.

The unfortunate thing is Travis.

It's just the injuries, obviously.

Travis is like, it's, it's really impossible to answer that because Travis without the injuries was probably a day 2 pick, probably a 3rd round pick.

It's just, and who knows what he could have been in the NFL.

He just never got to play, but Travis was a better prospect than, than I would say.

Not only do I feel bad for Jordan Travis because he didn't get to, you know, play in the NFL after he got drafted, but also when Florida State was undefeated, they were gonna make the playoffs.

The committee was like, Well, he's not playing, and we don't wanna see the backup quarterback.

So, well, I think, I felt so bad for him because it's totally not their fault at all.

I think a better, uh, comparison is like who was a better prospect.

Kate Clubnick or James Morgan, like, not NFL player, like as a prospect coming out of college, cause if I remember correctly, Morgan coming out of FIU was another guy that like when the Jets took him in the 4th round, one of us was surprised that they took him to the 4th.

It was like it was a surprise the Jets draft a quarterback in the 4th round.

He was, he was admittedly a draft Twitter darling that year.

He was a Jet.

OK, I, I don't remember draft Twitter loved him.

So the answer is probably James Morgan then was a better prospect.

I would, I would say though, draft Twitter loved him, but the NFL, the NFL was very low on him, and then the NFL liked Kate Klubnick more than I, yeah, I think draft Twitter did.

I think so.

I think so too, but I will say this, I'm still not like the biggest fan of his, but I was expecting not great things from him, and I've been pretty surprised.

I think he's adapted to Frank Reich's offense very quickly.

Which is good because he's gonna be QB2 this year because it ain't Bailey Zappy and I hope it ain't Brady Cook.

hang the banner better than Brady Cook and Bailey Zappy.

Hang, hang the banner.

6 QBs went in the top 14 that year, so Travis could have been even higher.

Yeah, I mean, Travis could have been a 2nd round pick, you know, you never know if he doesn't get hurt at all, there's a chance he sneaks in round one, even if he gets hurt and it's not that severe.

Probably goes long.

Drew Oller got hurt really bad.

He still went high.

Mike, you're gonna, you're not gonna like this one.

I think is better than Anthony Richardson coming out of college because you were a big Anthony Richardson guy.

I know that.

Yeah, I had him as my, well, OK, depending on how you analyze that, Garrett, like better was my QB2 that year.

Currently, uh, like, was a better quarterback coming out of college.

Maybe Richardson was the whole thing with Richardson was the appeal of the upside, quite literally all-time insane.

He's.

Throw he had that highlight touchdown you see where he threw it to Alec Pierce.

That's still like one of the best plays I've ever seen quarter.

But as far as like who was a better prospect, Klubnik was like a consensus 6th round pick who clearly the NFL was higher on, but even if the NFL was higher on him, they were probably looking at him like most teams' boards probably have him anywhere between a 4th and a 6th round pick.

Richardson.

I don't think you were finding many teams that didn't have as a 1st round pick that year.

Maybe 2nd round.

Yeah, I don't like the revision.

Everybody had him going that.

Maybe there were some teams that had him as a 1st round pick.

Maybe there were some teams that are just lower on him, obvious for obvious reasons, but I don't think anybody, I, there's just no world where any team probably had him as lower than the 3rd round grade, even if they were super low on him just because of the physical upside, you know, that in the arm and he was young too.

He only had like 15 college starts and then.

Yeah, taking himself out of the games tough look.

Bozo said, and then no, no one's even trying to fix him.

He's no one's trading for him.

Bozo said even as the Jets when you draft Manning and people would say nice with the guy.

I mean, yeah, I think it's more so the other way though.

Every Jets fan thinks every quarterback is the guy, like, not every Jets.

Jets fans think every quarterback is the guy.

Jets fans this time last year were saying Brady Cook's the guy when he had a good summer.

Remember that?

Yeah.

And I said it they were fools then and they're fools now.

The realistic outcome for Kate Klubnick is like a good realistic outcome is he's an NFL caliber QB2 and you can keep him on on his rookie contract for the next 4 years, and that's a great thing to have.

You have a young, affordable QB2 under contract.

I think the medium outcome is, he's somewhere between a QB2 and a QB3, and then the bad outcome is he's not an NFL quarterback.

And those are your realistic outcomes with Klubnik.

The 110th percentile is he becomes an NFL caliber starting quarterback.

And even then, I don't think he's ever gonna be like a above average, like, I don't even think the ceiling of him is that he could be a very good quarterback.

I, I like very good starting quarterback.

I don't even, I don't think there's a world where that could happen.

Maybe I'm, I'm stupid.

No one thought that about Brock Purdy, I guess, but.

Oh yeah, Purdy is one of the other, you know, rare one of the historical outliers.

It's like, again, you look at a, I'll, I'll bring up, I'll bring up like a Joe Milton, Kyle Shanahan and two guys got hurt.

It's like Joe Milton and it's like, why can't Joe Milton be Josh Allen?

It's like, well, there's been one Josh Allen.

There's never been another Josh Allen.

I mean back to, I remember Phil Sims got talked about like that cause he had like a below 50% completion percentage at Morehead State and he got picked 7th overall and people were literally got picked 7th.

Imagine this happened now.

If a guy got picked in the NFL 7th overall as a quarterback and people went, I have no idea who this is.

And he ended up being actually pretty OK for the Giants, so it can happen.

Garrett said, I thought Kevin Clemens was the man.

Look, 2nd round pick, 2nd round pick.

And you know what, in defense of Kevin Clemons, 10-year NFL career.

Yeah, not a lot of guys.

If Kate Klubnick has a 10-year NFL career, if Kate Klubnick is as good as this, this, this is get ready for a really depressing piss off Jets fans.

If Cade Klubnick has a Kellen Clemens career is as good, like if Kate Klubnick has as good of an NFL career as Kellen Clemens did, that's a successful draft pick.

That means he was a now Klubnick's 2nd or 4th round pick, Klubnick 4th round pick, Clemens' 2nd round pick, so expectations were understandably different.

But I don't know how you could deny that.

If you draft a quarterback in the 4th round, they have a 10-year NFL career, that's a success.

The vast majority of quarterbacks drafted in the 4th round do not have 10 10-year NFL careers.

So with that, I think we're gonna go and call this episode of the Jet Press podcast.

Justin, take us home and make sure to show off our new text alert.

That's right.

I'll promote it one more time.

Uh, first of all, again, thank you to Austrian Jet fan donating to 10 memberships.

We appreciate that, everybody tuning in.

We very much appreciate it.

Very excited for the upcoming season because one new thing that we rolled out last week, and we did it in the preseason, I've been doing it the, the last few days, uh, is our text group chat thing, whatever you wanna call it, our text group, uh, via a company called Subtext.

We partnered with.

If you text Jets, that's JETS to 631-818-2594 or click the link that is currently in the YouTube description if you're watching there, uh, you will be automatically subscribed to our free, or you'll have to, you have to sign up for it.

But you will, you'll subscribe to our free Jets text alerts where we're given news, analysis, you want our thoughts on training camp, what's going on there, you want our, our thoughts on the preseason, uh, takeaways from each game.

We are happy to provide it.

And it's a one on one text thread, so you can text us back if you want that one on one direct communication, uh, to me, to Mike, we're, we're happy to chat.

And I've been going back with a lot of you fans out there and it's, it's, it's been very fun, uh, to just talk, talk Jets and I have another platform and avenue for us to do that.

Uh, and talking about the giveaway that we mentioned at the top of the show, it is the first time that we're doing this in the history of Jet Press podcast, we're very excited.

Once we reach 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts, we will be doing a giveaway of a Jets jersey.

To be determined what that jersey is, but if you have not left us a review on Apple Podcasts, please go and do so.

I know we got a few in the last week or so and we read those, we really do appreciate them, uh, preferably 5 stars, preferably a written review if you can.

But once we reach 50 reviews on Apple Podcasts , we'll be doing a giveaway of a Jets jersey to anybody subscribed to our text alerts.

One last time, I'll say it one more time.

It is text Jets JETS to 631-818-2594 or click the link in the description.

Uh, and we're very, very excited to do that, and we're excited for the upcoming season, man.

It's been, it's been a fun year of growth, a fun summer of growth for us, and I'm excited to see what comes next.

So with that, Justin, take us home.

Garrett said love you guys.

Keep up the good work.

Appreciate you, Garrett.

Garrett, Garrett, thanks.

You've been here.

You've been here for a while, Garrett.

We, we appreciate you.

Same with Brian's turn back.

There's, there's a lot of guys in chat who I know have been here for a while.

Obviously Brian is a regular supplier of our, of our stats and of our, uh, our, our quizzes, which Brian, by way, Tony Reality.

Brian, Brian had submitted a 4th trivia quiz.

We will get to that at some point.

I promise you, and I, I did not, that has not gone unnoticed.

Uh, and we appreciate everybody who's been around for as long as anybody has.

And if you're a new listener as well, welcome.

Yeah, we got some fun stuff coming up.

Anyway, until next time, thank you all for joining us on the show today.

You can find Mike on Twitter at by Mike.

Follow me on Twitter at Justin D Fried.

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