Mark Sanchez’s annual “Jets West” camp will begin in a few weeks. The question now is: Will rookie Geno Smith be there?
Smith added a level of intrigue yesterday when he refused to answer whether he would attend. Sanchez invites all of the offensive skill players to the camp at his Southern California high school. Tim Tebow attended last year.
But when asked yesterday if he would attend, Smith said: “No comment.”
He was then asked why he won’t comment.
“I’d rather not comment on that,” the rookie said.
Was he invited?
“No comment.”
Sanchez reiterated that everyone is invited. We’ll see if Smith shows up.
* There was a minor verbal dustup in practice. It started when the offense ran a double-reverse with Sanchez serving as a lead blocker. He attempted to block cornerback Antonio Cromartie, but whiffed. It looked like Cromartie knocked Sanchez down, but Sanchez later said he fell on his own.
Believing Cromartie had hit the quarterback —a big no-no in practice — members of the offense began yelling at Cromartie, who shouted back at them. The most vocal member of the offense was wide receiver Santonio Holmes, who was not practicing with his injured foot.
Cromartie laughed about it later. “Y’all got a kick out of that, didn’t you?” he said of reporters watching the shouting match.
* The Jets wide receivers had another bad day. Stephen Hill, Jeremy Kerley and tight end Jeff Cumberland all had bad drops in practice. This came after coach Rex Ryan criticized the receivers group in the morning about its performance in Tuesday’s drop-filled practice.
“You’re an NFL player,” Ryan said. “Catch the football.You’re paid to catch the football. We expect it caught. When the ball is there, catch the ball. You know for us, you should be surprised if anybody ever drops a ball. Yesterday, I was surprised when we caught it.”
* Ryan sounds impressed with tryout tight end Kellen Winslow Jr.
“The one thing that jumps out at you is his skill and athleticism,” Ryan said. “That’s something that jumps out at you, he still has that. And from the very first play that he’s in there, you can still see that.”
* RB Mike Goodson did not practice after having a court appearance in the morning.