E-Boland & Gang Green

By Tom Rock

It wasn’t exactly football weather today, with temps feeling close to 90 if not actually touching that level. Still, it looked like football as the Jets opened up their OTA (thanks to a new NFL rule requiring them to do so). It was the first time the media had a chance to see new RB Thomas Jones along with all the other new faces, most of them on the defensive side of the ball.

Jones was stacked. He’s got crazy arms, inflated from all that time he spends in the weight room. Magellan would have a tough time circumnavigating his biceps. He played with his sleeves rolled up – if anyone deserves to, it’s him – but I suspect it would just be too difficult to find a jersey with sleeves that fit. He looked sharp slicing through the holes and it looks like the Jets may be itching to use him more as a receiving threat as well. He said the system the Jets use is similar to the one he ran in Arizona, so it’s just a matter of learning the new terminology. The Cards didn’t have a winning season in those three years going 3-13 in 2000, 7-9 in 2001, and 5-11 in 2002. Hopefully more than the terminology has changed.

There are only two Jets on the roster not participating in the OTAs: RB Curtis Martin and OG Pete Kendall. Martin is expected to announce his retirement imminently and hasn’t been on the field with the team since last summer. Kendall is reportedly not participating because he wants to restructure his contract after the ton of money teams threw at other offensive linemen this offseason. While the OTAs are voluntary, Mangini has made it clear that he believes they serve a valuable purpose. With Kendall not here, Adrien Clarke was playing left guard with the starters but tackle Adrian Jones was playing guard with the second-team. Wade Smith can also play guard, but he was playing center today (more on that in a moment). It seems the Jets are trying to come up with some Kendall Kontingencies.

C Nick Mangold did not participate in the practice today, but was on the sideline riding a stationary bike and doing other assorted exercises. At one instant when I looked over he was climbing on the bike and nearly lost his balance. We chuckled at the potential storylines of the Jets starting center suffering an injury after falling off an exercise bike. No word on why Mangold was relegated to off-the-field work, but Mangini is expected to address it tomorrow. Smith played in his place.

It’s very early, but here are the “starters” when the Jets played offense and defense:

QB: Pennington
RB: Jones
FB: Barnes
LT: D’Brick
LG: Adrien Clarke
C: Wade Smith
RG: Moore
RT: Clement
TE: Baker
WR: Coles
WR: Cotchery

DE: von Oelhoffen
NT: Robertson
DE: Ellis
OLB: Thomas
ILB: Barton
ILB: Vilma
OLB: Hobson
CB: Dyson
CB: Barrett
S: Rhodes
S: Coleman

This was Chad’s first OTA of the season – Mangini said he sat out the first two just to stagger the work among the quarterbacks – and he looked sharp. He threaded a nice TD pass to Cotchery and hit Coles in the corner for another TD in 11-on-11 drills. He’s definitely bigger in terms of physique, and being healthy at this time of the year is no doubt an odd sensation.

Justin Miller addressed the media about his run-in with the law a few weeks ago, careful not to say too much other than how unfortunate the situation is and that he has met with NFL officials regarding the incident. As a refresher, he’s been charged with third-degree assault, a misdemeanor, after allegedly punching a woman outside a bar. He seemed humbled by the situation – Miller’s usually a smiling loudmouth (a term used with affection here, every locker room needs a tension-cutter) but he was very business-like today. Maybe the incident will go a long way toward the maturation the Jets have been waiting for from Miller.