New York Jets: Chris Herndon plans to ‘practice fully’ for 1st time in 2019

New York Jets fans may finally witness the debut of Chris Herndon on Sunday. Here are all the details and what it could mean for the green and white.

The New York Jets are 1-7 halfway through their season. There are a lot of reasons for that, injuries certainly haven’t helped matters.

Although on Sunday the team could be getting a huge boost on the offensive side of the ball. New York Jets head coach Adam Gase spoke to the media Wednesday and sounded encouraged about the status of Chris Herndon:

“It’s about how he feels today. I really think him being dressed (vs the Miami Dolphins) on Sunday and going through pregame really helped him. He felt better after going through all that and we’ll see how he feels today.”

When later asked about his status for practice, head coach Adam Gase said the plan is for Chris Herndon to “practice fully” on Wednesday. That would be the first time this season that Herndon was able to practice fully.

Chris missed the first four games of the season due to a league suspension stemming from his DUI incident during the offseason. Just when the suspension was about to be lifted, Herndon pulled his hamstring working out on his own.

The combination of those two unfortunate circumstances has resulted in a pivotal young piece on offense to miss the first half of the 2019 season.

The Jets are trying to make sure Herndon doesn’t re-aggravate the injury which could put him on the shelf for even longer.

Hamstrings can often be very testy, so it’s hard to gauge when you’re fully back until you’re out there going 100 percent.

Gase said that Herndon has been doing “non-football workouts and things” and has looked really good. The last step is making sure he can do all the normal football motions and take a hit.

Speaking of taking a hit, let me introduce you to Sam Darnold’s confidence meter.

Over the last three games, Darnold has thrown eight interceptions to only three touchdown passes. On top of his confidence taking a metaphorical hit, his body has taken several physical hits. During that same stretch, Sam has been sacked 12 times, an average of four per game.

Darnold is desperately missing his security blanket.

In Herndon’s rookie season he played in all 16 games and only started 12. In those contests, he hauled in 39 receptions for 502 yards and four touchdowns.

While those numbers may not jump out to you, Chris has only improved in the offseason. When healthy Herndon is one of the bright young stars at the position. Hopefully Jets fans and for Darnold’s sake, we’ll see Chris Herndon back out there vs the New York Giants on Sunday.