If the Jets have thoughts of using Tajh Boyd as something other than a quarterback, as coach Rex Ryan hinted last week, the former Clemson star doesn’t sound like he will be an enthusiastic participant.
“I can’t see myself playing another position,” Boyd said as the Jets completed the second day of their three-day rookie minicamp Saturday in Florham Park.
The concept couldn’t come as a total surprise to Boyd, considering he fell all the way to the Jets in the sixth round of the NFL Draft despite setting 57 school and Atlantic Coast Conference passing records at Clemson.
Boyd also is joining a roster already full of quarterbacks, with just the No. 3 spot currently held by Matt Simms up for grabs — while Geno Smith and Michael Vick duke it out for the starting job.
It would explain why Ryan indicated Friday that — though the 6-foot-1, 225-pound Boyd currently is “100 percent quarterback” — the Wildcat package or a slash role at running back, wide receiver or H-back isn’t out of the question if Boyd makes the final roster.
“We’ll see as it gets going,” Ryan said when asked if Boyd is locked in as a quarterback. “Certainly, he’s got the running skills that we saw in college that you might consider doing different things with him.”
Boyd is a threat as a runner, having rushed for 26 touchdowns — a huge total for a passing quarterback — in four seasons as a starter at Clemson. That figure included 10 rushing TDs in each of the past two seasons.
Boyd averaged just 2.3 yards per carry in college, but he is no novice at it and has shown he knows how to find the end zone with the ball in his hands. He just hopes he doesn’t have to prove it in the NFL as something other than a quarterback.
“If it happens, I guess I’ll make the most out of it,” Boyd said of possibly playing a non-passer role. “But I just really can’t see that happening.”
Then again, Boyd didn’t foresee himself being a sixth-round pick, either. Not after a glittering career at Clemson in which he threw for a whopping 11,904 yards and 107 touchdowns.
Boyd fell in large part because scouts weren’t sold on his accuracy on anything beyond 10 yards. Teams also thought his career 64.3-percent completion rate was inflated by teammate Sammy Watkins — the top receiver in this year’s draft who went to the AFC East-rival Bills.
Even though Boyd roomed with Ryan’s son in college and frequently saw the Jets coach at Clemson, Boyd still was shocked to hear his name called by Gang Green on the final day of the draft.
“Obviously, this was one of the last places I was expecting to go, just because of the whole situation,” Boyd said. “I felt it was possible, but only under certain circumstances. Those circumstances happened, though, and I’m happy to be here.”
Boyd sounds as if he is still miffed by his draft plunge (he was the 13th out of 14 quarterbacks selected, ahead of only SMU’s Garrett Gilbert) but said he doesn’t regret returning for his senior season.
“I wanted to finish,” Boyd said. “I wanted to go out there and see what else was on the table. For me, it was all about having no regrets when I left school. I wanted to see if I could win a national championship and a Heisman. None of those things happened, but I most definitely enjoyed my experience.”
Now Boyd has to start all over, perhaps at a different position. Whatever happens, Boyd says he couldn’t be happier.
“I feel like I’m in the right position and the right team,” he said.