An encouraging rookie season ended sourly last December for Marcus Maye.
The Jets safety started all 16 games, but couldn’t finish the final one, leaving early in a Week 17 loss to the Patriots with an ankle injury that necessitated a minor surgery in the offseason.
Maye sat and watched spring practices as he recovered from the procedure, but began training camp Friday on a better note. The Florida product participated in positional drills before being held out of team drills as the team eases him back into action.
“It feels good,” Maye said after the Jets’ first practice in Florham Park. “Just working each day to get better. Just in the training room a lot, trying to get healthy. It feels fine. Just working each day to have progression. Trying to watch a lot of things, communicate a lot faster, so each day I just keep getting better and better.”
The 6-foot, 207-pound Maye knows he’s on the training staff’s schedule as camp begins and said that getting used to the “small movements here and there” has been the toughest part of getting back to full strength. But his absence from the physically unable to perform (PUP) list is a good sign that the team expects him to be ready before long.
“We’re bringing him along,” coach Todd Bowles said. “We’ll make sure he’s making great progress. We’ll have the timing right before he plays.”
The Jets’ second-round pick (39th overall) in 2017 finished his rookie year fourth on the team in tackles (76) and tied for first in interceptions (two). He also recorded three passes defended and a forced fumble.
Maye teamed up with fellow rookie safety Jamal Adams to emerge as a cornerstone of the Jets moving forward. The two quickly formed a bond in the defensive backfield, and just because the season stopped didn’t mean their communication did, too.
“[We talked] literally every day. If not, every two days,” Maye said of the offseason. “We talk a lot. It can be about whatever sport is on or something happened, what he’s up to — it can be about anything. Just the more we communicate, the closer we get. It just makes it a lot easier for us on the field.”
With the addition of veteran cornerback Trumaine Johnson to the defense, Maye said he is excited about how much of a strength the Jets’ secondary can be.
“He’s played a ton of ball, he knows the ins and outs of it,” Maye said. “He’s getting used to us, we’re getting used to him. We’re all jelling well, we’re all having fun. The more we’re around each other, the more we communicate with each other, the better we can be.”
