Say this for Jace Amaro: The Jets’ new second-round draft pick doesn’t lack for confidence.
Amaro emerged from his first NFL practice Friday and immediately proclaimed his goal is to catch 100 passes in a season, which is something no tight end in Jets history has ever come remotely close to doing.
Oh, and the big Texas Tech product doesn’t see why he can’t be the second Jets player in a row — following defensive tackle Sheldon Richardson, who was named last season’s Defensive Rookie of the Year — to win an NFL rookie award.
“The goal is to win the Rookie of the Year [award] and be the best offensive player you can be, and if you don’t have that mindset, then you’re not really in this for the right reasons,” Amaro said after the first day of Gang Green’s three-day rookie minicamp in Florham Park.
“I would like to be a tight end who catches 100 balls a year. That might be five years from now or it might be 10 [years], but that’s the goal for me.”
That’s not just hyperbole from the 6-foot-5, 265-pound Amaro, considering he is coming off a season in which he set the NCAA’s all-time single season record for receiving yards by a tight end with 1,352 — on 106 catches.
Those aren’t the type of numbers the Jets have ever seen in their history out of a tight end (Mickey Shuler owns the franchise’s single-season best with 76 catches for 879 yards in 1985). Then again, Amaro isn’t your average tight end.
It was much like how the Saints use Jimmy Graham and the Patriots once created havoc (on the field) with the infamous Aaron Hernandez, and Rex Ryan sounded Friday as if the Jets have some of the same thoughts in mind for Amaro on the NFL level.
The Jets certainly wanted to take Amaro out for a spin Friday, considering he appeared to be the target of every other Tajh Boyd pass in his debut workout as a pro.
“It’s like [Jets offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg] thinks we’ve got a new toy and we’re trying to feature him,” Ryan said.
Amaro said he will be ready if that’s what the Jets want to do with him, considering he frequently studied Graham and Rob Gronkowski — another big, versatile tight end — last season.
“Those two guys are ones that I sat with my position coach [in college] and watched hours and hours of tape on in 2013,” Amaro said. “That really helped me develop my game, to really understand how they release [off the line of scrimmage] and use their size.”
Amaro also plans to play with a grudge after being just the third tight end drafted overall, behind Eric Ebron (Lions) and Austin Seferian-Jenkins (Buccaneers).
Amaro considered that a snub much like his grade from one prominent media outlet coming out of high school in San Antonio.
“ESPN didn’t even have me as a two-star recruit, and I was the one ultimately breaking the tight-end [receiving] records,” he said. “I now have the same chip on my shoulder that I did going from high school to college. I’m holding it in and not going to express about it, but I think eventually, people are going to realize.”