Kenwin Cummings Talks About Staying Sharp
ILB Kenwin Cummings talked to his hometown newspaper about what it’s like to stay sharp and fighting to keep a spot on an NFL roster.
“You can never take a step back from anything,” said Cummings, a graduate of Purnell Swett High School. “Some of the older guys might have their spot and sometimes they might want you to go easy. But, you have to just go hard against everybody. Every-day. Sometimes you have to be the bad guy. The guy no one likes on the field … If you’re not hungry, you won’t make it in the NFL,” he said. “There’s constantly guys trying to take your spot. It’s a battle every single day. The coaching staff is always looking to replace you with someone better.”
I like Cummings, but there’s going to be a real fight for the the depth positions at linebacker, between guys like Izzo, Murrell, Trusnik, Renkart, Westermann and Cummings. I’m curious to see who would emerge. In my mind, Izzo who is really only valuable on special teams and is an aging player, would gum up the situation for a lot of promising young players should he make the final roster.
Filed under: Main Page
I’m with you on Izzo, we will see how mucj political clout Westoff has in this new organization… How many Linebackers do the Jets Carry ? My guess is 9
Won’t the new wedge rules render Izzo less effective though? We’ll have to see if Westhoff still thinks he can be productive. I wouldn’t consider Izzo a LB if he made the roster anyway, just as I don’t consider Wallace Wright to be a WR or Dearth to be a TE.
This would be my nine Linebackers, unfortunately I don’t see Kenwin Cummings or Larry Izzo making it.
Thomas, Gholson
Scott, Renkart*
Harris , Trusnick, Westerman
Pace, Murrell
You will notice that most of the reserves are former DE’s. IMO Renkart is smaller but is a better coverage LB, and coverage is the deciding factor over Cummings or IZZO
I’m in agreement with what’s being said- Izzo can barely be considered a LB and will only make the team with ST.
Interesting to note that several writers have taken notice to Wright’s improvements in the receiving game albeit they’ve only seen minicamps/OTAs.
Murrell and Westerman project to be OLBs anyway so Cumming’s main competition will probably be Renkart, Kobel (Randy Lange’s guy) and Trusnik (although he might be better suited for the outside as well).
I am a bit surprised that Renkart has stuck for so long. When he came in last year I figured it was just the CS taking the opportunity to look at home grown talent/accumulating camp fodder, something Mangini and Tannenbaum seemed to have an penchant for.
Good point about Wallace. I had noticed Wright getting praise. I still can’t imagine him seeing much action unless there are multiple injuries, but you never know…
I think Trusnik’s better suited for the outside too (he had 42.5 sacks in two years in college as a DE!) but he did acquit himself well in the ILB role in the last game of last year.
Certainly Wright’s college career, would never indicate that he could ever be a receiver. But there were rumors of 4.4 speed, and of course as a gunner the guy could get down field. Last year he came in , and blocked extremely well in bunch formations. Wright will always be on the 45 because of his special teams prowess, could be a 4th receiver. David Tyree
As others have said- special teams should play a big role in the fates of these guys. Realistically how many guys can the Jets carry that have limited upside outside of special teams? The Jets carry James Dearth who has no value outside of specials. They will likely carry Wallace Wright who also has no value outside of specials. If they carry Izzo that brings the count to at least 3 guys with no upside to contribute anywhere else on the field, which seems like alot to me. If a guy like Cummings can play well on STs he deserves to make it over Izzo or a similar person.
Doesn’t it seem like every year there is big praise for both Wallace Wright and Brad Smith as WRs during OTAs? I believe it was two years ago when it sounded like Wright was going to make a push to contribute in 2007 and push McCraphands out of the rotation. I think he finished that year with 5 receptions. Smith should just be named Mr. June the way he seems to perform. It has yet to translate into the regular season though.
We carried 4 QB’s and 2 Kickers last year so….
Why you should believe the hype about the Jets defense in 2009
http://turnonthejets.com/2009/06/28/why-the-jets-defense-is-legit/