Quinton Coples, the newest Jet, wasted little time trying to ingratiate himself to a skeptical Jets Nation last night.
“I’m going to sack Tom Brady,” Coples said at Radio City Music Hall.
Coples has a chance to be Julius Peppers.
That is the best-case scenario.
He also has a chance to be Vernon Gholston.
That, of course, is the worst-case scenario.
Boom or bust, ladies and gentlemen.
“Very indifferent tape,” the NFL Network’s Mike Mayock said. Then he added: “He showed up at the Senior Bowl and showed he had Julius Peppers ability.”
It’s on Rex Ryan to show us what kind of motivational genius he can be. Ryan couldn’t make chicken salad out of Gholston, and Coples comes to town with a body of work that raises the same red flags. The good news is that Coples won’t have to make the treacherous conversion to outside linebacker.
And the word last night from Ryan was this:
This is not Vernon Gholston, Jets fans.
“Not just Vernon Gholston that failed at that if you want to say it, because I thought actually Vernon was improving and I’m on record saying that,” Ryan said, “but not having the numbers that people expected … but, that is a longer transition, and it’s one that takes a while. But this, we don’t have the issue here.
“This young man’s staying with his hand in the dirt.”
The Jets preferred Coples over the rest of the pass rushers available: Melvin Ingram, Chandler Jones, Whitney Mercilus, Shea McClellin. He sure looks the part: 6-foot-5 1/2, 284 pounds, an 80 1/2-inch wingspan, a 4.71 40-time. So Coples, the 16th pick of the NFL Draft, has similar measurables to Jason Pierre-Paul, the Giants’ 15th pick of the 2010 Draft.
But does he have his heart? His motor? His passion? His drive? Coples recorded 10 sacks as a 4-3 defensive tackle at North Carolina as a junior, but slipped to 5 1/2 sacks at left defensive end last season. General manager Mike Tannenbaum pooh-poohed the notion he must have immense faith that Ryan can light a fire under Coples.
“I wouldn’t say it’s faith,” Tannenbaum said. “I would just say it’s about the culture that we’ve all collectively built here [someone, anyone, please inform Santonio Holmes] now going to the fourth year from a standpoint that Playing Like A Jet, that means something, and it’s not just one person. … Rex as the leader has set the tone obviously, but it means a lot more than just one person what we’re trying to build here.”
The NFL is a copycat league and the Jets watched how the Giants won a Super Bowl with JPP, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka chasing and rattling Brady, and everyone else, for that matter
“The old saying was, ‘The tackles’ job is to push the quarterback back, and the outside guy’s job is to push the quarterback forward,’ ” Ryan said.
“So I think with this addition, we pushed that quarterback back a little bit.”
Ryan learned the hard way that even he, Son of Buddy, could not X and O his way to the quarterback. Mike DeVito is a workmanlike defensive end, but hardly reminds anyone of Joe Klecko or Mark Gastineau. If Ryan can get Coples to Play Like A Jet — not like any of the 2011 Jets — he’ll have a pair of imposing bookends in Coples and Mo Wilkerson, last year’s No. 1 pick. One guy (Wilkerson) who reminds Ryan of a young Richard Seymour, another guy (Coples) who reminds him of a young Shaun Ellis or Trevor Pryce. Who will be measured against Syracuse’s Jones, plucked soon after by Bill Belichick.
Tannenbaum, armed with 10 picks and three of the first 77, needs the kind of draft he fashioned in 2007, when he traded up in the first round for Darrelle Revis and in the second round for David Harris, and in 2006, when he grabbed D’Brickashaw Ferguson with the fourth pick and Nick Mangold with the 29th. Giants GM Jerry Reese found one star (WR Hakeem Nicks) with the 29th pick of the 2009 NFL draft, and another (Pierre-Paul) a year later. Tannenbaum made his blockbuster trade for Mark Sanchez in 2009, and drafted CB Kyle Wilson with the 29th pick of the 2010 draft. No one would dare call them stars.
The Jets have hardly distinguished themselves since their season ended in disgrace. If they have a plan on offense, only they know what it is. Tim Tebow is their story, and they’re sticking to it.
Tannenbaum still needs to find a wide receiver, a safety and an offensive right tackle. His first priority was a pass rusher. He thinks he got one. He better be right. He better have a guy who is going to sack Tom Brady.