New York Jets: Todd Bowles Thoughts from Mini Camp

The Jets may be preparing for the NFL draft, but along with that, mini camp has opened. It has gone so quietly that you barely even noticed with all of the draft talk going on. OK, maybe I barely noticed, you all might have been quite aware of it. It’s the first time the Jets have been able to get together, under the direction of Todd Bowles, and start to install their new playbook on the field.

This afternoon, I wanted to bring you some thoughts from head coach Bowles, after practice yesterday. First, Bowles talked about what he has seen from Geno Smith so far:

Effort. He has a pretty good grasp of what they are trying to teach him, but when you go from Phase Two, throwing against air, then coming to practice, throwing against different defenses, as much as they put in over there, it’s a different deal. It’s an adjustment for both sides of the ball, but he’s been positive, he’s been accurate on a lot of things, especially in the individual drills, and they have to get the timing down. It’s real early in the process, but his spirit is strong, his information gathering is good. He’s gung ho and he understands what it takes to be able to lead this team.

Bowles has a great deal of respect for veteran linebacker Calvin Pace:

He can keep doing what he’s doing. Calvin has been a great pro. If you look at him, he’s a good looking guy, very muscularly built, he keeps himself in shape, and he understands what it takes to be a professional. He comes in in shape every year. Every year you want to say a guy like that is done, but every year (he gets it done). He’s a valuable guy, he’s valuable to me. He does a lot of things well and he understands the game. He understands the professional part, keeping his body together and doing the things he needs to do. I like Calvin the way he is.

Bowles isn’t sure when Stevan Ridley will be ready to practice in full:

To be honest with you, I don’t know. They are monitoring that and he’s running straight ahead, but cutting and doing everything that he needs to do, until I can start seeing some of that, then I could probably give you a better answer. Right now, it’s just week by week and kind of go as you go. Hopefully he will be ready for training camp and we will see how it goes.

There isn’t much to say on the team development at this point, as it is still quite early. But with all of the draft talk, isn’t it nice to think about actual Jets football? Hearing from the coach at this point just gets you all warm and fuzzy, thinking about Jets football.

Next: Predicting the Jets First Round Draft Pick

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