When the Jets resume practice Tuesday, their starting cornerbacks could be Antonio Allen, who has never started a game at the position, and Darrin Walls, who has four career starts.
Yikes.
Dee Milliner is still recovering from a high left ankle sprain and it sounds as if he won’t be ready for Sunday’s season opener with the Raiders. The team cut its other projected starter, Dimitri Patterson, over the weekend after his AWOL act. That leaves a lot of question marks at the position. Allen is coming off a concussion, but it appears he will play.
Coach Rex Ryan says he is not worried, though. When asked on a conference call Monday if he is comfortable with this group of cornerbacks he shot back, “Oh, no question about it.”
Ryan believes everyone is overstating the cornerback crisis.
“I understand where everybody is coming from because we’ve had some injury questions or some of the guys with Dee and then Antonio Allen, in particular, with the injuries,” Ryan said. “I think when this thing gets kicked off for real, we absolutely have no excuses. We’ll line up and play. We feel good about the players that we do have. Shoot, the great thing is we get to prove it.”
On Monday, Ryan and general manager John Idzik spoke with reporters for the first time since releasing Patterson and waiving wide receiver Stephen Hill.
Idzik did not go into much detail about the decision to release Patterson. It seemed like a no-brainer after the 31-year-old failed to show up for the preseason game with the Giants, went missing for 48 hours and then called Idzik and Ryan liars.
“We will always operate by one of our primary tenets: The team comes first in everything we do,” Idzik said. “I think in the end we felt like we did what is best for the New York Jets in releasing him.”
Idzik has come under fire for the cornerback situation. He failed to land any of the big-name cornerbacks available in free agency and did not draft one until the third round. On the call, Idzik was asked if he regretted not signing a “legitimate” cornerback.
“I would call Dimitri Patterson a legitimate cornerback. That’s why we signed him,” Idzik said. “We liked the player. We interviewed the player. We don’t look back. There’s no regret. We’re in a people business. You really can’t anticipate some things that may happen.”
This is the second straight year one of Idzik’s free-agent signings had an off-the-field issue. Mike Goodson was suspended for four games last year after getting arrested on gun and drug charges. The team released Goodson in the spring.
The Jets did add another cornerback on Monday, signing veteran Phillip Adams. The Jets will be Adams’ fifth team in five seasons. He played last season with the Raiders and had a terrible year. He spent training camp with the Seahawks, who released him Saturday.
Ryan said Allen practiced Friday, but was not permitted any contact. That is usually the final step before a player gets fully cleared from a concussion. As for Milliner, Ryan was not as optimistic.
“I’m not sure. We’ll see. Obviously, you hope he is [ready],” Ryan said. “I know he’s working hard to get back. But to say, do I really believe he will be? I think it’s too early to tell.”
Ryan also spoke about Hill, the team’s 2012 second-round pick let go Saturday. The Jets simply had seen enough.
“I think we gave Stephen plenty of opportunity,” Ryan said. “He had more snaps than any receiver through camp. But at the end of the day, a lot goes into it. One of them is … special teams presence. Stephen really never provided a whole lot of special teams presence, if at all. Some of the guys we probably kept over Stephen for that very fact.”
In addition to Adams, the Jets also claimed WR Walt Powell off waivers from the Cardinals.
They waived LB Jeremiah George, a fifth-round pick this year, and WR Quincy Enunwa, a sixth-rounder, to clear roster spots. It is expected both George and Enunwa will be signed to the practice squad if they clear waivers. The Jets signed CB LeQuan Lewis to the practice squad Monday, leaving two more open spots. … They signed LB A.J. Edds, who they had cut Saturday and released CB Ellis Lankster. … Hill had a tryout with the Panthers on Monday, according to a source.