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| Minkah Fitzpatrick. Photo Credit: Cooper Neill/Getty Images. |
The New York Jets were busy on the first day of the “legal tampering” period, aggressively addressing the defense. Well, actually, it started with the trade for T’Vondre Sweat last week, but I already covered that.
The first acquisition I saw was the trade for safety Minkah Fitzpatrick from the Miami Dolphins. To get a player of his caliber for only a seventh round pick is a steal, as far as I’m concerned. His Pro Bowl caliber play and veteran leadership will be huge in the locker room.
The next one was DE/OLB Joseph Ossai from the Cinncinatti Bengals. He was mainly a rotational/situational pass rusher, but from what I saw, he showed signs of being a terror getting after quarterbacks and the Jets going to a 3-4 this year is perfect for his explosiveness off the edge.
The biggest one so far, and one I wasn’t expecting, was bringing back linebacker Demario Davis. The Catch-22 here is if I wanted to be nit picky, my only problem with this is that he’s entering his 15th year, however, aside from his play--and he can still move from sideline to sideline--his experience, leadership, and mentorship is much needed, in my opinion.
Two players they signed I’ve heard of by name this past season, but haven’t seen much of are DE/OLB Kingsley Enagbare from the Packers and safety Dane Belton from the Giants. I’ve seen reports that Enagbare was a sneaky good pick up, and viewed Belton as a standout special teams player who posted career numbers almost across the board last season.
As I mentioned in the last post, between free agency and the upcoming draft, I knew Darren Mougey wasn’t done addressing the holes on the defense, and he went all defense on Day One of the “legal tampering”. Two players I would’ve liked him to pursue was Jaelan Phillips and Jaquan Brisker, but Phillips signed with the Panthers, and with acquisitions of Fitzpatrick and Belton, I don’t see him going after Brisker.
That wraps up Day One; I’m looking forward to see what they do on Day Two, particularly regarding their situation--or should I say problem?--at quarterback.
