New York Jets: Wide receiver injuries impacting roster depth but also the scripting of practice
With injuries affecting the New York Jets depth at wide receiver, the hope for head coach Adam Gase is to get through the next few days without seeing any more playmakers hit the training table.
Rookie Denzel Mims (hamstring) and Vyncint Smith (core) are two injury hits to a wide receiver room that already was thin in terms of starting caliber talent. Factor in Josh Doctson opting out of the season last year and it can be a challenge for the Jets coaching staff to field enough bodies for practice.
The Jets are hoping that recently signed Chris Hogan is able to get on the field soon. He need to clear the COVID-19 protocols before he can meet with the coaching staff let alone see time on the field. Hogan is getting his physical on Tuesday and then should be cleared to sign the contract.
“I hope it’s soon. Hopefully we get him out there soon,” Gase said Tuesday on his conference call with the media. “It’s hard to say because I don’t know if any hiccups occur with the physical aspect.”
Injuries to Mims and Smith (who had surgery and should return in five-to-eight weeks) have hurt the Jets at a position where they didn’t have much depth to begin with. The hope is to get Mims onto the field and potentially ready for Week 1.
The injuries could see talent such as tight end Chris Herndon assume an even larger role in the Jets offense sooner rather than later.
In the near-term, Gase admits that merely planning practice can be a challenge with the numbers at wide receiver so low. Hogan will help but right now, it is about smartly balancing personnel.
“It factors in quite a bit. Dropping from nine to seven – we talked about it the other day – multiple injuries at the same position are what affects the entire team because it affects practice,” Gase said.
“We’ve had multiple injuries not only at wide receiver but also at tight end - now you’re running out of personnel groups to us. Our guys, were probably lucky that we had to have the shortened type practice where we went pads where we had only 90 minutes or whatever it was. That played in favor where we were able to script it right, get all our guys the work we need, use the time allotted and we got out of practice without anybody going down. The good thing is I think we do have guys returning here hopefully in the next few days. Especially next week, hopefully we get a bunch of guys back. Which really that’s the key, after today we have two days of padded practice and then have a day off. The next few days, hopefully we get a couple more guys back and hopefully get more after that little day off.”
