What is wrong with Jets’ Lorenzo Mauldin?

The New York Jets went into the season with some players expected to have breakout seasons. Lorenzo Mauldin was one of them.  However, if this were a different generation, he might be on the side of a milk carton.

As per ESPN’s Rich Cimini, linebacker Lorenzo Mauldin only played in six of the 60 defensive snaps for the New York Jets against the Seattle Seahawks. Here is the complete breakdown as per Cimini:

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"Jets defensive snap count (based on 60): DB — Gilchrist 60, Williams 49, Pryor 48, Skrine 45, Revis 39, Burris 18, Miles 11; LB — Harris 60, Lee 34, Henderson 26, Jenkins 21, Mauldin 6; DL — Wilkerson 58, Richardson 58, Williams 56, McLendon 47, Simon 17, Jenkins 7. Revis suffered an injury and came out. Pryor was pulled for 11 plays in favor of Miles — perhaps a sign the coaches aren’t happy with Pryor. Mauldin, once projected as an every-down player, all but disappeared from the radar."

According to Sporting Charts, Mauldin played in 253 of the of the 1,052 defensive snaps (24.1%) last season.  Even though the percentage of snaps has gone up to 35.8%, there hasn’t been much production.  He also hasn’t turned into the every-down player we thought he’d become. Obviously, the coaches don’t believe in Mauldin, or he’s not that kind of player just yet.  If he was, 429 players wouldn’t have more playing time than him in the NFL and rookie Darron Lee (130 snaps) would have four times the playing time.

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Maybe scouts missed their mark on Mauldin, who was projected to turn into an every down player, albeit not projected to be one right away.  Mauldin could be the pass rush specialist, which is why the Jets felt the need to draft Lee and Jordan Jenkins, both who are also expected to be every-down players.

Despite not using Mauldin, the Jets have improved there ability to get to the quarterback.  The Jets are in the top ten in sack percentage (seventh) and sacks per game (tenth).

He’s still young and can still develop into the player many expected.  However, when a rookie who was expected to be a pass rush specialist is getting more snaps than you, it’s not a good sign.

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Sometimes players just don’t meet expectations.  Other times the league just swallows them up.  This could be the case with Mauldin.