By E. Weeks on 29. Jul, 2010
On the first day that rookies, quarterbacks and selected veterans reported to Florham Park, the team made the following transactions:
QB Erik Ainge was placed on the reserve non-football injury list for an undisclosed illness. There's no timetable for his return. He won't count against the Jets 80-man training camp roster.
The Jets have informed QB Kevin O'Connell that he will compete for a roster spot in Cortland, a source told me. There was speculation that O'Connell would get his walking papers with the arrival of veteran Mark Brunell. But it appears that he'll have a chance to compete for a roster spot during training camp.
Rookie Joe McKnight failed his conditioning run and was placed on the active non-football injury list. The former USC running back struggled with his conditioning and threw up during his first practice at rookie minicamp in the spring.
The team signed S Emmanuel Cook and cut LB Ezra Butler.
Manish Mehta
SMH and I thought McKnight could easily be as dynamic as Leon was. I don’t want to make more out of the situation than I should but a running back should not have trouble during conditioning. Oh well, we’ll see how he does the in pre-season. Ia actually had high aspirations for the kid but not a good start.
Joe McKnight failing his physical is almost unbelievable. I could understand if he had an injury but, for a running back to be so out of shape, coming into his first pro camp — I can’t wait to hear what is going on here. This is a player who averaged 6 yds per carry at USC! The only thing that I can think of is that, this guy must be a heroin addict. Why didn’t the trainers monitor this guy, following his first day exploits. This is just nuts.
I seem to remember Cedric Houston had a similar problem and they discovered it was an overactive thyroid. Jose Reyes had a similar problem at the start of the baseball season.
I wonder…
Anyway, welcome to the NFL, kid. Time to step it up.
A thorough medical exam is clearly in order. Any number of things in addition to inadequate offseason preparation could explain this failure on the conditioning run, so let’s not jump to conclusions about this kid just yet.
I don’t know…which is better, a medical issue that might take some time to sort out or just him being lazy and/or unfocused and needing to grow up?
Bent—
Good point. Overactive thyroid or immature, self-destructive jerk. Difficult to know what to root for.
Thanks for the memory, Bent. Good recall on Houston.
man, what a disapointment! I bet hard knocks was there to catch him failing the test. How can you be a 4th round pick and be out of shape as a running back?? wth..
Have to be pi@@ed with the McKnight situation. Rex and Mr T must be going nuts. Ouestion is what is he thinking….
No shock he didn’t live up to the Reggie Bush billing at USC, the guy can’t get in shape AFTER puking his way through mini-camp and swearing he’ll get himself ready.
We had a story on here on July 5th about how he’d revamped his workout regimen and been doing a lot of extra cardio. Something isn’t right here.
Bent:
C’mon bent, is it too early to wish we had Leon back?
Loved Leon. Any Jets fan would love to have a healthy Leon back.
I don’t have huge expectations for McKnight this year anyway. Barring injury, I wasn’t expecting him to see much meaningful action, so I hardly think this news is much of a setback for the Jets hopes. He’ll probably pass the test tomorrow and all will be soon forgotten. That nearly always happens.
Bent:
Not to be contrarian BUT, how do we know Leon is NOT healthy?
Hank – I never said he wasn’t. We’ll find that out during the season.
I think the Jets got rid of him because he wasn’t going to sign a contract at the level they determined to be his market value and the agent was becoming a distraction.
The fact his health was a major question mark going into a season where they plan to contend and want as few question marks as possible, made it a pretty easy decision to get some value for him while they still can.
Especially since Brad Smith can handle KR duties and LaDainian Tomlinson is more of a third down back, so his role would have overlapped with Leon.
Even if Leon plays well and McKnight fails completely, you can’t second guess this move because JM is earning 500k a year and Leon was seeking a deal somewhere in the region of ten times as much as that. He was becoming a luxury they couldn’t afford and I’m sure they will be able to win games without him.
But I was sorry to see him go. You know I like to hang onto players.
Hank/Bent,
I just found some articles that say Leon’s first practice is expected during training camp, but there is varying skepticism about just how healthy he will be.
Some say they don’t see him being ready for a few weeks (PUP list) and some see him being ready for Week 1. So it’ll be interesting to keep an eye on how Leon does out there, to say the least.
Sounds like a case of player stash to me
In all this, note that there was action takin. I’m tired of hearing, the Jets are good on paper. Rex can get bums to perform, think what he can do with these guys.
I think Rex will have a +legacy, and this is the year to realy get it started.
I do want to believe that after being embarassed about failing the first time he would get it and be ready for this camp. I think I will go with Bent’s theory because if it isn’t that this kid is in for a rude awakening.
I think people need to realize that there is no way that 100% of the teams draft picks will be successful. After throwing up, every sign pointed to this guy being a bust. Things have only proceeded to get worse for him. Lots of guys with the exact same skills as McKnight simply cannot cut it in the NFL. Even Reggie Bush hasn’t made a stellar transition and he has the most talent of all the scat backs by far. It was a bad move to trade up for this guy, he’s going to be a bust, I’ve been saying it the whole time, bet on it.
You can not say he’s a bust yet. He hasn’t even had the start of a season. We’ll see what happens with him and you saying reggie bush hasn’t transitioned than you know nothing about football.
Oh no? He was the #2 draft pick, and he hasn’t put up numbers ANYWHERE NEAR his expectations. What exactly is it that I am missing in my utter stupidity and complete lack of knowledge? Please enlighten me oh mighty Buddha.
Have you seen Reggie bush play? His numbers aren’t great because he’s suffered a few injuries and has yet to play a full season. But you watch him play and he single handly wins games and changes games. Even with his numbers and just finishing his 3rd season his numbers aren’t bad. You just like throwing out the bust label. You want to see a bust see Jamarcus Russel or look no farther than Gholsten. People who produce nothing. Not even mediocre stats.
we traded up for him? I thought he dropped to our pick…
They gave up a sixth to move up 12 spots in the fourth round. Some sources had him going earlier, so in that respect, he did fall to that spot.
Man I don’t like the sound of this at ALL!!! I didn’t like it during mini camp and def not now! How with the chance of a lifetime to play PRO ball are you gonna be that out of shape?? I have to question his work ethic? Whats next falling asleep in team meetings a la JaMarcus Russell??
He has’nt signed a contract yet? Has he?
McKnight signed a 4 year deal on July 22nd.
Kyle Wilson is the Jets’ only unsigned rookie, so he won’t be out there until he signs. Those around him have started to get deals though (and waiting, then basing the deal on those around him is reportedly his agent’s M.O.
I don’t expect him to get the rock much . But I was hoping he could handle punt and KO duties?? No wonder there were questions about this kid
I’m thinking Wilson will return punts. There are lots of kickoff return candidates.
Your right Bent I forgot KW can return punts . I guess Brad Smith will continue to handle KO duties also?
Westhoff was on 1050 ESPN Radio tonight and said Smith would be returning kicks and Wilson returning punts
That’s exactly how I would want it to look. Maybe have Cro return a few kickoffs since he’s just so gifted at it, but Smith is pretty good himself.
No one mentioned Emmanuel Cook, good to see him back with the Jets.
Thanks, that name caught my eye, too. He WAS with the Jets before, right?
That’s right. He was cut in camp last year.
I defended Mcknight & I am ASHAMED. I think I watched the USC-OSU game too many times when Mcknight lit it up. I apologize to all of you from way back when we drafted this kid. I thought he could handle it. What a complete frigging JOKE.
These things happen. Its probably not the end of the world, though considering all the red flags surrounding McKnight it would have been nice to see a different result.
I’m not ready to crucify the guy just yet but it is very, very strange.
Ainge out for undisclosed illness. this isn’t the first time. i think he has missed time each of the last two years with undisclosed situations of some kind.
Yeah, one was when his uncle (Danny Ainge) had a heart attack. Not sure what the other one was.
I brushed off the spring training incident of puking and being out of shape. I noted the same thing happened to Dez Bryant but not many made a big deal out of it.
I’d imagine he had to make a certain timed run and who knows how badly he failed. Could he not complete the run? Did he miss the mark by a couple of seconds?? If so, I’m sure he will bust his ass to finish it on time and move on from there. This provides some camp fodder for the vets to rag on him for sure.
Not sure this means he’s gonna be a bust.
I really appreciate and applaud everyone’s optimism about this guy. But it’s just the law of averages, lots of guys get drafted, more than 50% turn out to be failures. The type of player this guy is has an even higher percentage failure rate. Every single sign is pointing towards him being a failure. There has to be someone that is a failure, and all the evidence points to it being this guy. It’s unfortunate, and I’d love for him to prove me wrong, but I just don’t see how that’s possible. Playing well in college with limited touches so he can keep his legs fresh is one thing. Playing in the NFL which is a completely different level is another thing entirely. Maybe he has a future in the AFL.
Except for a few lapses, you take the prize for most negative commenter. Lighten up or get the most like Cimini award.
Maybe McK and Cody can train together for the AFL. You have to be kidding with that right?
Raises concerns for Joe McChuck.
Let’s hope for the best outcome for the rook.
Running Back
1) Shonn Greene
2) LaDainian Tomlinson
3) Joe McKnight (4th – 2010)
4) Chauncey Washington
Fullback
1) Tony Richardson (S)
2) John Conner (5th – 2010)
3) Jason Davis
…We have been spoiled with stellar picks in the later rounds. A 4th round pick would be a steal if he makes an impact in at least a game or two.
The main concern will be if he does not bounce back to at least make practice squad.
Yea!!! Really stepping out of Reggie Bush’s shadows!
Always possible he just has a bug…no need for everyone to go nuclear.
you think we would have waited till after the conditioning test to sign him…. but anyway, i still think he’ll end up being a good back for us. just give him a little time to adjust.
Don’t think he can run the conditioning test for TC b4 having a contract. I’m sure Wilson didn’t run it.
Correct.
Thank GAWD Obama passed Health Care Reform–now we know we’re covered as we begin to nurse Ainge back from his mysterious bout with Roster-Clearing Disease.
Good thing we got rid of Leon and replaced him with this out of shape underachiever. Way to go front office.
It’s a bit worrying, no wonder Pete Carroll didn’t go 4 him, what does he know that we don’t ???
I don’t think this is such a big deal really. People keep tossing the name Reggie Bush but he’ll probably make more this year than Joe will his entire rookie contract.
People expected to start and are making starter money can be labeled a bust. Project players either develop or don’t.
Exactly…its not even possible to call a 4th round pick a bust..jets fans put a lot of pressireon 4th founders cause we’ve been lucky in recent years getting Cotchery, Leon, Rhodes, lowery….most teams don’t get hat many solid contributors that late in the draft…..I don’t expect to see any impact at all from him till late in the season kind of like last year with shown coming on late…..
its not even possible to call a 4th round pick a bust..jets fans put a lot of pressireon 4th founders cause we’ve been lucky in recent years getting Cotchery, Leon, Rhodes, lowery….most teams don’t get hat many solid contributors that late in the draft…..I don’t expect to see any impact at all from him till late in the season kind of like last year with shown coming on late…..
Bent- if it’s not a medical issue then the guy is usess. If he can’t get in shape after what happened already, then he has NO desire guys like that never pan out.
Carl Banks made a comment this AM about Albert haynesworth failing, that players who participate in a high % of the OTA’s and team off season conditioning get waived from taking this test and that if all the players had to take it a lot would fail. Not giving an excuse, but did everyone else have to take this test too? Banks said unless you train specifically for it , it’s tough to do?
What other Jets took the test?
Interesting. I’d also like to know what the test consists of.
From what I have found on PUP rules, he can come off the list at any time as long as he is on the Active PUP List. He is not allowed to paricipate in practice but can rehab/condition and attend meetings. Hopefully this is Rex hitting him upside the head and telling him to focus on his conditioning.