Optimism Swells as New York Jets Ready for Training Camp

Dec 22, 2013; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Jets wide receiver

(86) celebrates his touchdown catch during the second half of their game against the Cleveland Browns at MetLife Stadium. The Jets defeated the Browns 24-13. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports

Training camp is finally in our sites, we made it. How good does it feel? 2013 is completely in the rearview mirror, and all the teams, including our beloved Jets, are 0-0. The teams and players are excited, in a league known for parity, to compete for a championship.

For what it is worth, the Jets are feeling pretty good about themselves these days.

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As the Jets prepare for Cortland, everyone is feeling pretty optimistic about the 2014 roster.  We had coach with his confidence that the Jets will be a playoff team this year.

We then had Geno Smith with his “Why not us?” quote.  Now it has spilled into the wide receiver group.

David Nelson, acquired last season, is feeling pretty good about his opportunity in 2014. Take a look at what Nelson had to say:

“I’m more excited about this upcoming season than I’ve ever been,” he said this offseason. “My first year in the NFL, I was just happy to be here. My second year, I really burst onto the scene and had a solid year. My third year, I tried to take that next step into being one of the guys — and tore my ACL. And so that year and a half was just a lot of weird things happening, trying to catch on with a team, trying to get healthy again, trying to figure out if I could still play. “So last year was kind of my way to prove that I still belong, I still can play. I really felt like at the end of the season I had built up enough momentum, started to play, started to get healthy again, started to feel comfortable, so I’m really excited about the opportunity that lies ahead of me with this team we have.”

Nelson considers Jeremy Kerley the leader of the wide receiver room, and loves the addition of Eric Decker:

“Yeah, Eric’s got the attention and he’s got the reality show,” Nelson said, “but at the same time he’s got a tremendous approach to the game. It’s really cool that we added a key piece that’s going to bring a great statistical aspect to what we do, a gamechanger, but also a guy that fits in with the aura and the vibe of our room, which is a bunch of hardnosed guys, ‘Hey, we’re going to block you, we’re going to run hard, we’re going to be aggressive, and we’re going to be violent.’ “

At the end of 2013, John Idzik talked about confidence rather than cockiness. That is what we are seeing here, out of Nelson and others. I can’t wait to see them take the field.