CORTLAND — Jets fans spent the end of March wringing their hands and screaming at their computer screens as free-agent cornerback after free-agent cornerback signed with other teams. It became the focus of free agency: What about the secondary?
Fast forward four months and the biggest question about the Jets remains their defensive backs. They wound up signing Dimitri Patterson to replace Antonio Cromartie at corner and then drafted safety Calvin Pryor in the first round of May’s draft. But Patterson’s signing was met with a collective “who?,” and Pryor will be a rookie learning on the fly.
It is a huge departure from Rex Ryan’s early years as Jets coach when big names like Darrelle Revis and Cromartie led the way.
Now, the Jets are counting on a bunch of unproven players.
“The names aren’t household names yet,” Ryan said, “but hopefully by the time the season’s over some of them can step up and earn that.”
They better do it quick.
Here are the quarterbacks the Jets face starting with Week 2, barring injuries: Aaron Rodgers, Jay Cutler, Matthew Stafford, Philip Rivers, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
If the secondary is not any better, they will have whiplash from watching the ball go over their heads.
It would be hard for the Jets to be worse than last season when they gave up 3,947 passing yards, the most by a Jets defense since 1986. Of the 10 games with the most passing yards allowed under Ryan, four came last season.
“It’s very motivating,” defensive backs coach Tim McDonald said.
Right now, the starting cornerbacks are expected to be Dee Milliner, who had a rough rookie season, and Patterson. Milliner recently proclaimed he was the best corner in the NFL, a claim that drew chuckles around the league. On Tuesday, Milliner said he was just saying he would never concede to anyone.
“That’s where the problem came, when I said I’m the best corner,” Milliner said. “I was saying I’ll never admit to someone being better than me.”
The Jets expect Milliner to make huge strides this year. McDonald said they have “high hopes” for Milliner.
The bigger unknown may be Patterson, who is on his seventh team in 10 seasons. Despite his travels, Patterson has a ton of confidence. Jets fans were disappointed when the team let Cromartie walk and then failed to land Vontae Davis, Alterraun Verner or Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie in free agency. But Patterson said he is not intimidated by taking over for Cromartie.
“That doesn’t bother me one bit,” he said. “Those guys are who they are. Obviously, Revis set a standard here when he played here. That’s on tape. You have to acknowledge that. As far as I’m concerned, I know what I can do. I’m excited to show the fan base what I can do.”
Ryan feels the Jets are definitely deeper at safety this season, where Antonio Allen has another year of experience, they added Pryor and veteran Dawan Landry is back. Those three are fighting for two spots.
In Ryan’s first few years, the secondary was the strength of the team. Now, it may be a weakness, but Ryan still sounds confident in the group.
“On paper, we may not look as strong as we’ve been in the past, but I think we have a group of guys that are taking a lot of pride in it,” he said. “I think we’ll be just fine. With that being said, we have a lot of work to do. We’ve got to get better. There’s no doubt.”