NY Jets: Denzel Mims, Pierre Desir, and others injured in practice

The NY Jets had a number of players injured in practice including Denzel Mims and Pierre Desir.

NY Jets football is finally, officially back as the team took the field for their first real practice on Friday. But while fans were quick to rejoice at the return of their beloved team, it wasn’t all good news coming out of Florham Park.

The Jets were already hit with the injury bug with a number of important players either going down with injuries or missing practice altogether.

Reporters were quick to notice that second-round pick Denzel Mims wasn’t on the field to begin Friday’s practice and he remained on the sidelines all day.

Mims is reportedly dealing with a hamstring injury that he sustained prior to Friday’s practice. Head coach Adam Gase said that Mims suffered the injury when he took “a really weird step” and “kind of got stretched out.”

The timetable for his return is unknown, but any time that Mims misses will be very detrimental to his development in his rookie season.

Given the absence of rookie minicamp and OTAs, this four-week training camp period is all rookies have to get acquainted with the NFL before being thrust into the regular season. And especially for someone as raw as Mims, he needs every practice rep he could get.

Manish Mehta of the NY Daily News did indicate that injury is not considered serious and that the Jets expect him to return within a few days. Still, it’s certainly not an ideal situation for the former Baylor star.

Denzel Mims wasn’t the only NY Jets player to sustain an injury.

But Mims wasn’t the only Jets player to show up on the injury report.

Veteran running back Frank Gore also missed Friday’s practice with a hamstring injury, but Gase did say that his absence was “precautionary.” Rookie pass-rusher Jabari Zuniga sat out with a quad injury as well while running back Kenneth Dixon was sidelined with a hip flexor.

The Jets also lost another notable player during practice as cornerback Pierre Desir was removed early with a hamstring injury. Desir is projected to be the team’s No. 1 cornerback and it would be a huge loss if he were to miss any time.

Finally, reserve defensive lineman Bronson Kaufusi also went down with — you guessed it — another hamstring injury.

The Jets likely aren’t the only team dealing with so many injuries given the extended time off. But it is worth monitoring to see if any of these players are forced to miss a significant period of time.

Either way, for someone line Mims, any time missed is cause for concern.