The mantra is always being shouted by Jets coaches during training camp, echoing throughout practices as a consistent message they’re attempting to ingrain of their team.
“Just compete,” head coach Robert Saleh might be heard shouting in the course of the third episode of HBO’s “Hard Knocks” series, which aired on Tuesday night.
“The very best a part of the NFL is competition,” offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett said. “Everybody’s gonna have their opportunity to shine.”
“Competition! Competition!” tight ends coach Ron Middleton plainly yelled.
Perhaps nothing higher demonstrates the Jets’ mission for competition than their most-recent move to sign running back Dalvin Cook.
Despite already being deep on the position with Breece Hall, Michael Carter, Zonovan Knight and Israel Abanikanda, the Jets signed Cook to a one-year deal value as much as $8.6 million last week.
Certainly one of the team’s strengths, the running backs room now also can be one its best for taking part in time.
Cook’s arrival was one in all the early focuses of the third episode of “Hard Knocks.”
With Quavo’s “Who Wit Me” playing within the background, Cook was shown arriving at Jets practice for the primary time since signing with the team, after which meeting lots of his recent teammates.
Cook was there for just sooner or later, though, before flying back to Florida for his child’s birth.
But Aaron Rodgers made sure to share a conversation together with his recent backfield mate.
“Saturday night? That’s gonna be an extended day,” Rodgers quipped when Cook told him when the child was expected to be born. “Hopefully a brief night. Might be an extended night, though.”
The episode quickly pivoted to Hall’s return from the torn ACL he suffered during his rookie season last 12 months. Practicing for the primary time since he was cleared, Hall wowed everyone together with his speed.
“God, he’s so fast,” Saleh said while being told that Hall had just reached 21 mph while running a slant route. “He just … poof.”
“Stop showing off, No. 20,” Hackett shouted.
Cook has rushed for greater than 1,000 yards each of the past 4 seasons, and Hall rushed for 463 yards and added 218 receiving yards in seven games last 12 months because the front-runner for Offensive Rookie of the Yr award before he got hurt.
But Jets coaches have made one thing abundantly clear this summer: Competition will bring out their best.
“Now we will all recuperate, because that’s the mindset,” Saleh said in a team meeting captured within the episode. “You’re teammate’s going hard? ‘Thanks for pushing me to go above my comfort zone.’ We would like a bunch of competitors.
“And that’s what we’ve been constructing the last three years. A gaggle of men who’re intrinsically motivated to be their best possible. It’s a typical. It’s a lifestyle. It’s who you might be. It’s your DNA. Competitors — that’s what we wish.”
