SACK TIME:Jets linebacker Aaron Maybin (right) closes in on Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers last week (AP)
Aaron Maybin has been one of the biggest surprises of the season for the Jets, registering three sacks and three forced fumbles in four games since he was signed off the street following the 34-24 loss to the Raiders in Week 3.
That was the kind of production the Bills (the Jets’ opponent in Week 9 after their bye) expected from the Penn State product when they took him with the 11th overall pick in the 2009 draft. Instead, Maybin failed to register a sack in his two years in Buffalo, and was cut during training camp.
“He was an upfield speed rusher,” said Tom Modrak, who was Buffalo’s vice president of college scouting when Maybin was drafted. “We thought it would take a while … maybe give him a year of spot play, and then he’d come on stronger and so on.”
Only that’s not how it played out for Maybin. After a breakout season at Penn State as a redshirt sophomore in 2008, in which he recorded 12 sacks, Maybin decided to declare for the NFL draft — a decision met with some skepticism in State College.
“I didn’t think [it was the right decision] at the time,” Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley said. “I thought he’d go in the second round. But he went in the first, and I was happy for him. He’s a great kid. We wanted him to stay.”
Maybin, nicknamed “Mayhem,” decided to forego his final two years of eligibility and enter the draft after he was projected to be a first-round pick, and he cemented that projection when he wowed the NFL at the scouting combine in March 2009, when he arrived weighing 249 pounds and impressed with his speed and agility.
That led the Bills to take a chance on Maybin, who only turned 21 a few weeks before he was drafted, in the hope he could develop into a difference-maker like Dwight Freeney or Osi Umenyiora as an undersized, but fast, defensive end in their “Tampa 2” 4-3 defense under current Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.
“That was our expectation,” said Fewell, who became the Bills’ interim head coach for the final seven games of Maybin’s rookie year after Dick Jauron was fired. “He had speed coming off the corner. He was very effective doing that in college and that was my hope that he would become a player like that.”
Instead, after holding out during his rookie training camp, Maybin arrived in shape, but below his combine weight — and was never able to get back to that weight again (He’s listed at 228 pounds with the Jets), making it nearly impossible for him to be successful as a defensive end.
“There’s no question that [his inability to put on weight] was a big part of it,” Modrak said. “He really was kind of a square peg in a round hole. … He didn’t make the plays we hoped, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. His motor was always good, but it just didn’t happen in that setting.”
Now that Maybin has gotten a fresh start, both in terms of position and team, working almost exclusively as a pass-rushing outside linebacker in Rex Ryan’s 3-4 defense, he’s doing the kinds of things the Bills thought he’d be doing for them all along.
“I’m surprised he didn’t have success in Buffalo,” Fewell said. “But I’m not surprised he’s having success with the Jets, because I think they’re doing things that compliment what he can do.
“He looks like he’s having fun playing football again. I think that’s probably the main thing for Aaron, that he’s having fun again.”