Early on in Jets practice Sunday, the rookies did a dizzy bat relay race.
After practice, coach Rex Ryan was the only one who looked dizzy.
The Jets coach appeared shaken by seeing two of his top four cornerbacks leave the field with trainers. Rookie Dexter McDougle tore his left ACL and is done for the season. Starter Dee Milliner suffered a high left ankle sprain and will be out for a few weeks.
The biggest question mark on the team just got bigger, and general manager John Idzik’s decision to ignore the cornerback position in free agency and the first round of the draft looks even worse.
By the end of practice Sunday, the Jets’ first-team cornerbacks were Darrin Walls and Ellis Lankster. That chuckle you hear is coming from Foxborough.
What once was the strength of the Jets when Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie manned the position from 2010 to 2012 has become the weakness and it could wind up costing Ryan his job if this team misses the playoffs because their secondary can’t stop a nosebleed, as Ryan likes to say.
If it does, Idzik should be shown the door with him for ignoring such a glaring weakness this offseason.
The situation was worrisome before Sunday’s injuries when the plan was to start Milliner, coming off a rough rookie season, and Dimitri Patterson, who is on the seventh team of his 10-year career and has a history of injuries.
Now it has become dire.
McDougle, the team’s third-round pick, was the team’s best option to replace Patterson if he struggled, as he did in Thursday’s preseason opener. Patterson did not practice Sunday as he nursed quad and ankle injuries.
Milliner has shown signs of improvement in training camp, but now that growth will go on hold as he probably will watch the rest of the preseason from the sideline. A high ankle sprain can linger, too. Milliner may not feel 100 percent all season.
“I am not a new coach to those kinds of situations,” Ryan said. “I’ve had to deal with them in the past. Adversity to some is opportunity to others. We will put the best 11 out there. We will be able to play defense. We have a lot of good football players.
“We will be fine.”
Ryan had better hope so.
The coach runs his defense off the ability to have cornerbacks who can play man coverage and allow him to get creative with blitzes and coverages. Ryan likes to say you lose games quickest at quarterback and cornerback. The Jets could do a whole lot of losing thanks to their corners this year.
Remember this stretch of consecutive quarterbacks the Jets face beginning in Week 2: Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
That run of top QBs is going to test Idzik’s approach this spring when he completely whiffed at addressing the cornerback spot. The novice GM decided to let Cromartie walk out the door and then failed to land Vontae Davis, took a pass on a Revis reunion without even giving it a chance and sat on his hands when Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie left Florham Park for East Rutherford, where the Giants signed him. Despite having more than $20 million in cap space, Idzik ignored the position.
Left with no other options, the Jets signed Patterson, who has never started more than nine games in a season. When it came to the draft, Idzik chose safety Calvin Pryor with the 18th pick instead of Michigan State cornerback Darqueze Dennard. Pryor might be a fine player, but the Jets could have survived at safety this season with Dawan Landry and Antonio Allen. The Bengals took Dennard six picks after the Jets and last week Cincinnati coach Marvin Lewis said he is the “best rookie corner I’ve seen.”
The Jets will get to see Dennard up close Saturday, when they play the Bengals in their second preseason game. Andy Dalton can test out the Jets’ cornerback trio of Walls, Lankster and Kyle Wilson in the slot. That group might just make Dalton’s recent $115 million contract look like a bargain.
Ryan said the Jets probably would not make any moves to add a corner just yet. Ryan feels like they have some depth at corner and talked up the camps of Walls and Lankster. The Jets coach was in full spin mode, trying to sell everyone that he felt good about the cornerback situation.
It was enough to make you dizzy.