New York Jets’ third-year stars bring heat in toughest practice of training camp | Sporting News

Today the New York Jets held a different sort of practice than usual.

The Jets prepare to travel to Carolina to face off against the Panthers in a joint practice and the second preseason game this weekend. Before they leave though, head coach Robert Saleh brought a different tune to practice that no one on the team has seen.

“Today we gotta heavy one,” Saleh said this morning during an interview on the Boomer and Gio show. “It’s going to be the biggest workload of the year so far.” Practices are limited to abount 2-2.5 hours in length during training camp.

Players on the first and second-team units had a chance to play the equivalent to three quarters of football over the course of the day, combined with other drills prepared by the coaches. Saleh mentioned in his post-practice presser that the team “did not flinch.” Two players who embodied this sentiment from their head coach were WR Garrett Wilson and DE Jermaine Johnson.

Jets stars show out in toughest practice to date

Wilson has had a fantastic camp to say the least, picking up exactly where he left off training camp last year with QB Aaron Rodgers. Today was no different as the 24-year-old caught 6-of-7 balls thrown by Rodgers for two touchdowns. One came on a Rodgers bomb that traveled more than 50 yards with Wilson beating Brandon Echols. The other came later in a drill where Rodgers capped off an 80-yard drive with a bullet over the middle to the Jets’ WR1.

These two seem as if they’ve been on the same page for the longest time now and it’s only a matter of weeks until they get to show their dynamic duo in a regular season game. It’s been seen numerous times during camp practices where Wilson and Rodgers are jawing back at one another. Anyone who has played or followed sports should know that these are two elite competitors who are trying to motivate one another to be the best versions not only of themselves but for one another.

The Jets offense is going to run through Rodgers but at 40 years old, Wilson and superstar RB Breece Hall are the two catalysts to Rodgers’ success. As for the Jets defense, Jermaine Johnson is a major factor for what should be a tremendous unit again in 2024.

The breakout star candidate in Johnson had a spectacular day being a nuisance for the offense, especially at the beginning of practice. 

Johnson had a huge tackle for loss, engulfing WR Xavier Gipson in the backfield after blowing up his blocker on the play. Another key moment for Johnson came via a would-be sack on Rodgers, maneuvering around right tackle Max Mitchell. The third-year veteran out of Florida State had 7+ sacks last season, finishing with an 83.0 PFF grade. He was also a major factor in the run game ranking 6th out of all EDGE defenders in run stop win rate at 32 percent.

Both Wilson and Johnson are core pieces to their respective units on the Jets and it should be a treat to see how these young stars continue to develop this season.

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