Cumberland making strides

The Jets are pretty set at tight end with Dustin Keller and Ben Hartsock. But Jeff Cumberland is doing what he can to get himself noticed.

Cumberland, a 6-4, 249-pound rookie out of Illinois who signed as a free agent, made two nice catches in practice and drew praise from Rex Ryan.

"He's hard not to notice when he's catching 40-yard passes," Ryan said. "His block when he's getting knocked in the backfield catches your eye as well. Hopefully he can improve his blocking enough because he's definitely a threat as a receiver."

Pool cue

Brodney Pool had Mark Sanchez's floating pass lined up and was ready to pick it off. He jumped in front of intended receiver David Clowney, leaped into the air . . . and completely whiffed after mistiming his jump.

Clowney came down with the grab and raced downfield for what would've been a huge gain.

"It's better to happen in practice than in a game," defensive backs coach Dennis Thurman said. "Hopefully, he'll learn from it and we'll move on. He's a great athlete with a lot of talent. It happens."