Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman said he believes the Jets possess enough talent in their secondary to play well this year.
The Jets finished up mini-camp Thursday, bringing an end to their offseason workouts. The next time they will be together will be at training camp on July 23. Thurman said the secondary, which has been a question mark, can be a good one.
“The lack of experience shows up at time, but the talent is there,” Thurman said. “We know that we have guys that can play. We just make sure we communicate, do the things that we’re supposed to do. If we do that, I think we’ll be fine.”
The Jets had rookie Calvin Pryor starting at safety along with Antonio Allen during mini-camp. At cornerback was Dee Milliner, who is in his second year, and journeyman Dimitri Patterson.
“We have to solidify our cornerback situation and our safety situation, but I think we went a long way toward doing both of those,” Thurman said.
Also on Thursday, the attorneys for Thurman released a statement saying their investigators found the allegations that he slapped a woman in a Morristown, NJ, restaurant last month were “completely baseless.” No charges were filed in the incident.
QB Geno Smith said he will take the next week off then get back to work to prepare for training camp.
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg said Wednesday that Smith would get 70-75 percent of the first-team snaps, but Smith said he’s not looking at it as the starting job is his to lose.
“That’s not my mind-set,” Smith said. “I don’t see it as my job to lose. I don’t see it in any way, shape or form as something that I need to be worried about losing, but rather trying to help this team get better and become better myself. I try to focus on the day, not get caught up on what’s ahead of me and just stay in the moment.
“When I’m on the practice field, honestly, I’m not thinking about that [and] we’re not thinking about any of those things. The only thing we focus on is getting better that day and getting better at that particular time and place. What’s ahead of me is to come and that’ll happen. But right now I’ve just got to focus on what’s in front of me.”
LB David Harris (hamstring) and TE Jeff Cumberland (undisclosed) sat out practice Thursday. … Ryan named S Dawan Landry, CB Dexter McDougle and G Oday Aboushi as players who stood out during the spring workouts.