Jets rookie quarterback Geno Smith clarified his remarks from Wednesday about Mark Sanchez’s “Jets West” camp.
On Wednesday, Smith gave a “no comment” when asked if he would attend the camp Sanchez holds annually in Southern California. That was read as Smith possibly skipping the camp or some trouble brewing between the two. But Smith said Thursday that’s not the case.
“Myself and Mark had never discussed [the camp],” Smith said. “It kind of caught me off guard because it’s not on my schedule or anything.”
Sanchez said everyone is invited, and Smith said he’ll be there once Sanchez tells him about it.
“I’m more than willing to go there, get some work, work with the guys and do all that stuff,” said Smith, who described his relationship with Sanchez as great. “That helps team bonding.”
* Tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.’s tryout with the Jets ended yesterday, and it appears there is a good chance he will be sticking around. Neither coach Rex Ryan nor general manager John Idzik would say the team planned on signing Winslow, but Ryan strongly hinted at it.
“I see that athleticism and his ability to catch the football jumps out at you,” Rex Ryan said.
Winslow impressed during his three days of minicamp. The Jets are in desperate need of playmakers, so if Winslow has anything left in the tank, he would be a nice pickup.
“[It’s] a great spot,” Winslow said of the Jets. “Hopefully, I stay.”
Winslow had 75 catches in 2011 for the Buccaneers, his last full year in the NFL.
* Winslow would certainly help a weak receiving corps, which received plenty of criticism from Ryan this week for the continuing trend of dropping passes. Yesterday, the Jets spent much of 11-on-11 drills running the ball out of their Wildcat formation, preventing more dropped passes.
“We had something that I don’t think I’ve ever seen: We actually had a couple of drops in walk-through [on Wednesday], which is interesting,” Ryan said. “We’ll have to try to fix that one way or the other. If that’s with other players, so be it.”
Jeremy Kerley, Stephen Hill, and Jeff Cumberland have all had issues holding on to the ball during minicamp, though Hill did make a fine 40-yard grab in traffic on a nice toss from Smith yesterday. Veteran Mike Sims-Walker took part in the minicamp on a tryout basis.
“To me, if you’re a receiver you shouldn’t expect to make a football team or have a huge contribution to a football team if you can’t catch the football or are not consistently catching the football,” Ryan said.
* Despite the offseason additions of running backs Mike Goodson and Chris Ivory,
Joe McKnight doesn’t think the Jets have a clear-cut No. 1 halfback..
“We got to get to camp and then we’ll find out who the No. 1 running back is,” he said. “We don’t have pads on. You can’t really tell.”
brian.costello@nypost.com