4 standouts and 1 dud from the NY Jets' final OTA practice of the spring
By Justin Fried
The NY Jets held their final of 10 OTA practices on Friday, officially bringing an end to the team's spring workouts. With mandatory minicamp canceled, the next time this Jets team will reconvene is training camp in July.
That means the Jets will have approximately six weeks off to rest up and prepare for a long and grueling NFL season. Jets head coach Robert Saleh told reporters that he canceled minicamp in part due to the excellent progress the players made this spring.
Only four of the Jets' 10 OTA practices were open to the media, but a number of players managed to make quite the impression during that time — for better or worse.
For the sake of this article, we're specifically going to be focusing on the Jets player who made an impact, whether positive or negative, in Friday's practice. Let's take a look at some notable standouts.
Standout: Garrett Wilson, WR, NY Jets
Garrett Wilson was likely the star of OTAs for the Jets. The former first-round pick has wasted little time establishing chemistry with new quarterback Aaron Rodgers.
Rodgers himself was extremely complimentary of Wilson when speaking to reporters after practice. The future Hall-of-Fame quarterback remarked how Wilson seemingly has at least one 'wow' moment every day of practice.
That was the case again on Friday. In 7-on-7 drills, Rodgers fired a laser to Wilson on the sideline past nickel cornerback Michael Carter II. Rodgers was looking in the opposite direction for 95 percent of the play, only to turn his head at the last minute and connect with Wilson, who dragged his feet on the sideline to match the catch.
It was an equally impressive catch as it was a throw and further evidence of the special chemistry developing between Rodgers and Wilson. The Jets could be more excited about the potential of this duo in 2023.