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Young people can shiver. Young people can also kill.
Youth can be reckless and sometimes too exciting for its own good.
If, by the time the roster’s Final Cups are made later this month, the Jets don’t have the NFL’s youngest team by middle age, they’ll be in the top five.
The face of the Jets’ youth, after first-round pick Zach Wilson quarterback, lies in their body as a cornerback, a position to which general manager Joe Douglas has curiously chosen not to add veteran experience. during the off-season.
At the Jets minicamp in June, rookie head coach Robert Saleh boldly and confidently (or whistled past the graveyard) said he was ready to ride with the kids at the cornerback position.
Will that result in a sinking or swimming in the pass-happy league that the NFL has become?
It remains to be seen. Check back around Thanksgiving for an appropriate sample size.
“When you are dealing with young guys the excitement is like when you are driving on the freeway and you are on [empty], you’re like ‘When is this going to happen?’ ” Saleh said after Thursday’s practice. “It’s like a roller coaster. But at the same time, you see incredible growth between play-ins and play-outs, and day after day. ”
The Jets have a rookie quarterback (Wilson), two starting cornerbacks in their respective second seasons that combined for a career interception, and starting rookies on the offensive line (guard Alijah Vera-Tucker) and wide receiver. (Elijah Moore). Can a team win in the NFL with such a young roster in the most critical positions as the Jets?
“I saw [young] the teams win, I saw [young] teams are growing, ” Saleh said. “I’ve seen veteran teams lose. It’s about gaining confidence, gelling, bouncing the ball and really having confidence. This group is a very confident group … a very young and confident group. ”
Sometimes it pays to be young and dumb, oblivious to the pitfalls of inexperience.
The good news for the Jets is the polite and mature manner in which one of their future starting corners behaves.
Bryce Hall, in his second year out of Virginia and a 2020 fifth-round pick, wants to be like former Jets greats Darrelle Revis. He modeled his work routine on that of Revis through fiery cinematic study and brain preparation leading up to match day.
“That’s what I strive for – to be like that, to study my opponents,” Hall told The Post Thursday. “When I was in college and I became a corner [he was a receiver in high school], I wanted to study what the best corners do and how they do things, so I got the Revis tape when I was in Virginia and I was studying it.
“It would be amazing, because you’ve never really seen him get beaten by anyone. He was everywhere on the ground, he was traveling. It’s something I really respect about him. He was definitely a legend. I try to take a little.
“I haven’t been able to talk to him yet, but it would be something I would like to do. I hope if he comes back I would be able to catch up with him. ”
If Phil Simms can stop by the Giants camp and talk to his old team like he did on Wednesday, you’d like to think the Jets can arrange a visit from Revis with Hall and the young cornerbacks in that lineup.
“Hall Island” would sound great, wouldn’t it?
The Jets only have one cornerback who has been in the NFL for over three years, Justin Hardee, who was signed in the offseason to play against special teams.
If the season started tomorrow, their starting corners would likely be Bless Austin, who played 18 NFL games and is still chasing his first interception, and Hall, who played eight games as a rookie last season. Javelin Guidry, who played 11 games last season, and rookie Michael Carter II are the best candidates to play a nickel corner.
Overall, the Jets have four rookies at the cornerback: Carter, Jason Pinnock, Brandin Echols and Isaiah Dunn.
“The biggest difficulty for them is that they don’t necessarily have the veteran to show them the process, to show them exactly what he’s supposed to look like,” defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich said of his corner half. “At the same time, it creates this incredible competition at all levels. These young guys are getting better every day. ”
Will they be good enough to hide their inexperience?
Will their youth delight Jets fans or kill the Jets?
“Pete Carroll once said, ‘You can’t be afraid to play with kids,” Saleh said before training camp, referring to the Seahawks coach, who he worked for before. “These are hells on wheels and they are fun to watch. It could go both ways. ”
Hold on tight.
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