A year ago, Le’Veon Bell decided to sit out the season rather than take what the Steelers offered him. This year, he is a Jet, and he applauded Chargers running back Melvin Gordon, who is staging a training camp holdout as he seeks a new contract.
“I’m proud of him,” Bell said Thursday on the Jets’ first day of training camp. “He knows his worth. That’s a guy that I’ve talked to. I know him since he was at Wisconsin and I was at Michigan State. Me and him have a nice little bond. I’m proud of him. I’m always going to support him because he feels like he knows his worth. I hope he gets what he deserves.”
Gordon’s situation is much different than Bell’s was last year, though. Bell did not have a contract. The team tried to use the franchise tag on him, and he refused to sign. Gordon is still under contract. He is scheduled to make $5.6 million this year. If he tries to do what Bell did and sit out the season, his contract will roll over to next year. The Chargers can also fine him $40,000 for each day he misses training camp.
Gordon is the latest running back to fight the battle that Bell did last year to try to assert the value of the position, which teams have devalued in recent years.
The Jets are as thin as a runway model at cornerback. That was clear on the first day of camp, when Trumaine Johnson, Darryl Roberts and Arthur Maulet were their starting corners. Maulet was playing in place of Brian Poole, who began camp on the non-football injury list.
“Obviously, we need some of these young guys to come along quickly,” Jets coach Adam Gase said of his corners. “We knew coming in that we had two guys who are veteran players and we have a lot of young guys and a lot of guys with no experience. We need guys to develop quickly, and we’re going to need guys to play well in the preseason and step up.”
It won’t be surprising to see a conga line of cornerbacks come in and out of camp this year as the Jets try to find answers at the position.
Speaking of Poole, he was moved to the active roster late Thursday. It sounds like Poole failed his conditioning test, although Gase did not say that specifically.
“We were giving him an extra day to get a little extra conditioning and just make sure that he’s good to go,” Gase said.
RG Brian Winters was excused from practice Thursday as his wife was having a baby. Winters is expected back Friday. Tom Compton played with the first team in his place.
The Jets waived defensive lineman Fred Jones.
WR Jamison Crowder is not as talked about as the Jets’ other big free-agent signings, but the slot receiver could have a major impact. He looked good Thursday. He and Sam Darnold already seem to be clicking and the defense could not cover him in seven-on-seven drills.
Third-string QB Davis Webb had a day to forget. He had two fumbles and an interception in team drills and struggled mightily during seven-on-seven drills. There was some speculation that Webb could challenge Trevor Siemian for the backup QB spot, but that seems highly unlikely.
The Jets opened camp with S Marcus Maye on the PUP list. He did some conditioning with the trainers during practice. CB Brian Poole was running with Maye. He is on the non-football injury list. Rookie CB Bless Austin is also on the NFI and was doing some things with the trainers during practice.
