Tom Rock: Veteran WR Tim Patrick is the Jets' most under-the-radar signing of the offseason

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. -- It was just a second-string swing pass on a sweaty, snoozy Tuesday morning in training camp, the kind of play hardly anyone usually would notice. Rookie quarterback Cade Klubnik tossed the short connection to second-year receiver Jamaal Pritchett — neither has ever taken a regular-season snap in the NFL — after which Pritchett turned upfield and ran all the way to the end zone through a defense that wasn’t truly trying to tackle him anyway.

But there was something else that occurred on that otherwise innocuous rep that managed to stand out.

Just as the ball arrived in Pritchett’s hands, so did a flash of green. Another receiver on the field delivered a pad-popping block that gave the play space to breathe, allowed Pritchett to elude that first would-be defender and set up the big gain. It was a hit made not by a kid trying to make the club but by an established 32-year-old veteran who has been in the league nearly a decade.

It is one of the main reasons Tim Patrick is a Jet.

For many of the past few years, the Jets have made numerous additions that were overt attempts to add various styles of leadership. They brought in Aaron Rodgers and his congress of cohorts. They thought Justin Fields could blossom into a pillar of their locker room. This season they added Geno Smith, Demario Davis and Minkah Fitzpatrick, all of whom have found Pro Bowl-level success in their careers and who now are charged with not only playing that way here but sharing their wisdom to groom others on how to join them.

Few of those transplanted mentors have managed to move their flock.

Patrick is a different kind of addition to that list, though. He is here on a one-year, $2 million deal that barely made the free-agency tickers and transaction wires, an under-the-radar pickup who probably won’t be a starter and might never deliver the kind of game-altering plays the Jets are counting on from Garrett Wilson, Adonai Mitchell, Breece Hall and others.

Patrick hasn’t been a Pro Bowler, hasn’t won a Super Bowl and has had only three 100-yard receiving games in his career, none since 2020. Yet talk to the other players and coaches and it’s clear he is one of the most respected players in the locker room.

He also is one of the rare veterans who arrives here having worked with both general manager Darren Mougey and coach Aaron Glenn at previous stops. As such, he’ll have a hands-on role in helping a very young receiver room blossom and guiding a team in the characteristics toward which organizational leadership is striving.

He likely won’t wind up with a huge statistical season, but whatever successes these Jets are able to gather in the coming months almost certainly will have Patrick’s fingerprints on them in some fashion.

And if the team needs a block on a swing pass, even when hardly anyone is watching, well, they know to whom to turn.

“I bring a little bit of everything,” Patrick told Newsday. “I’m somebody they know will be ready each and every week. If somebody goes down or the standard is not met, I can come in and meet that standard. I am a jack-of-all-trades. I can do whatever you need me to do. Once I find out that role, I’ll specialize in it.”

Patrick’s career began in 2017 when he was an undrafted rookie who signed with the Ravens but was cut, spent training camp with the 49ers but was cut and landed on the Broncos’ practice squad. At that time, Mougey was an area scout for the Broncos focusing on the Southwest, so he certainly would have had a voice in the decision to add Patrick, who played collegiately for Utah.

In Denver, Patrick was teammates with the late Demaryius Thomas and learned leadership skills firsthand from the respected veteran.

Soon Patrick developed his own style. In 2020 and 2021, he had back-to-back 50-catch seasons with a combined 11 touchdown receptions and was considered the “heart and soul” of the receiving corps there. He signed a three-year, $34.5 million contract extension with the Broncos.

Early in training camp in 2022, though, he tore an ACL in practice. Almost exactly a year later, returning from that injury, he tore an Achilles in an early practice. For about 30 minutes after the second diagnosis, he said, he thought his career was over.

In Denver, it was. He never played for the Broncos again.

After his departure from Denver, though, he was picked up by the Lions, for whom Glenn was the defensive coordinator. Patrick caught 33 passes and had three touchdown receptions for Detroit that season. He spent last year with Jacksonville, making 15 catches and scoring three touchdowns, and then came to the Jets this offseason.

“He’s experienced and he’s been in this league a long time,” Glenn said. “Extremely tough, extremely smart, very unselfish, willing to give everything that he has. He’s a very valuable person when it comes to the receiver room. It didn’t take long for guys to really see that he’s a true leader.”

Added Mitchell: “That’s the OG, man. He brings a lot of experience, a lot of guidance. I believe he played with Demaryius Thomas, so he has seen a lot of ball, he can talk a lot of ball, man. The energy he brings as well, he’s definitely our leader in the room, I would say that. We love having TP out there with us.”

Patrick started training camp on PUP but was cleared to return without missing any practices. Well, he did sit one out this past week, but it wasn’t because of injury — at least not any new one. Both his ACL and Achilles injuries occurred on the fourth practices of camp with Denver, so every year since, he has skipped that fourth workout. This year, that was Monday.

“When you have an ACL, then the next year on the same day you have an Achilles, you’re like ‘All right, there’s something about that day,’ ” he said. “So I just don’t practice on it anymore.”

He still can play every other day. At 6-5, he is among the tallest receivers the Jets have, and he knows how to use his size to his advantage. He said it has helped him pass the “eye test” in the NFL.

“Then, being blessed with good hands, good feet and the willingness to block, I think it got me to the point where I am now,” he said.

Patrick said he isn’t worried about the lack of passes that come his way in practices or where he is on the current depth chart.

“It’s all about being healthy for the season,” he said. “I’m getting a few reps to build up and not just rush me into it. It’s about finding that rhythm, because I know I am not going to get that many passes, that many plays right now. It’s just about finding my rhythm so when the season does come, I am firing on all cylinders.”

Looking simply at the raw numbers from camp, it would be easy to forget Patrick is even on this team.

But he’s definitely there. He’s doing his job. He’s leading. He is communicating. He is setting the standard.

And those blocks, like the one earlier this week?

“No rhythm needed for that,” he said with a smile. “That’s just effort.”