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Justin Hardee is used to making big tackles for the Jets, but he’s still trying to come to grips with the NFL hitting him and his peers where it hurts.
The NFL adopted a new rule that will allow the ball to be placed at the 25-yard line if the receiving team makes a fair-catch on a kickoff inside the 25 rather than opting for a return.
NFL owners passed the rule in May under the premise of increasing safety by reducing full-speed open-field collisions, but Hardee said he thinks it actually will limit his value to teams by lessening the importance of his kickoff coverage ability.
“I kind of take it as a slap in the face, taking away — or trying to — a play,” Hardee said. “That’s how guys feed their family. That’s how I feed my family. That’s opportunity they are taking away.”
Hardee wouldn’t be in the NFL if not for his special-teams ability.
He has played one defensive snap at cornerback, compared to 765 special-teams snaps over his two seasons with the Jets.
The upward trajectory of his six-year NFL career was rewarded last season when he was voted a Pro Bowler as the AFC’s lone non-kicking specialist.
The Jets’ co-captain said that he and other special-teamers around the league tried to arrange a group meeting “to go against it, but by that time it was too late.”
The NFL claims that data suggests the kickoff return rate will drop from 38 percent to 31 percent and the concussion rate will decrease by 15 percent by adopting the rule, which college football has used since 2018.
“Got to embrace it,” Hardee said. “I don’t necessarily agree with it, but it is what it is. Got to find a way to make more plays.”
Diamonds are forever, and so is the bromance between Sauce Gardner and Aaron Rodgers.
The Jets cornerback told reporters Friday that he got Rodgers “a surprise” gift.
It turns out that was a green and white No. 8 necklace.
Gardner bequeathed the gift to Rodgers on Saturday, with the Jets’ social media team capturing the exchange.
“So you’re my jeweler’s favorite quarterback,” Gardner told Rodgers. “You know what I mean, Al the Jeweler. So he wanted to cook up something special for you. He brought the idea to me; I said I think it would be a good idea.”
Gardner put the chain around the neck of the Jets’ newest quarterback himself as Rodgers stood smiling with his arms crossed.
The superstar quarterback went out on the town with Gardner in the months leading up to camp, with the two spotted at a Knicks playoff game.
During organized team activities, they even came up with a secret handshake, which mimed them smoking marijuana.
With training camp underway, they’re finally going up against each other in practices.
“I think he’ll like it,” Gardner said of the gift. “It’s probably not his style all the way, but I feel like it’s gonna be good since he’s in New York now.”
It’s easy to joke that the Jets acquired former Seahawks defensive tackles Quinton Jefferson and Al Woods as a free-agent package, but it’s not that far from the truth.
Woods visited the Jets’ facility first, but he didn’t sign until after Jefferson did.
“We live in the same apartment complex,” Woods said. “Our wives are best friends. That’s one of the main reasons why I came here. We talked through the whole free-agency process about what it was looking like. When he signed here, it was like, ‘All right, if we can get it done, I’ll come there.’ ”
The Jets placed OT Duane Brown on the physically unable to perform list.
He missed the first two practices for “personal reasons,” per head coach Robert Saleh, before appearing out of uniform on the sideline Saturday.
Brown underwent offseason shoulder surgery after playing last season with a torn rotator cuff. RB Breece Hall, TE C.J. Uzomah and WR Randall Cobb are also on the PUP list.
With so many players returning on defense, the Jets could script less of practice than in the past if Saleh wanted to rely on muscle memory. He does not.
“Right or wrong, my philosophy is you always go back to the very beginning,” Saleh said. “Now, for the defense, accelerate faster so you can add and evolve and try new things as you go to see if you want to evolve the scheme, but you always want to start at the beginning.
“We’ve all taken algebra back in the day. After leaving school and you get back after just three months, you forget everything, right? It’s the same principle: Never neglect the basic stuff.”
— with Ethan Sears
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