Jeremy Ruckert starting to stand out with Jets' tight ends
Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert after practice at the New York Jets practice facility in Florham Park, NJ, on Aug. 6, 2023. Credit: Ed Murray
The Jets’ tight ends were expecting a boring day at training camp on Sunday, full of “the nitty-gritty” duties, as C.J. Uzomah later put it.
But practices can be unpredictable in the Aaron Rodgers era, and there was plenty of action.
“I don’t know how many passes we got each period, but I was like, damn: touchdown, first down, first down, touchdown,” Uzomah said. “It was a fun day. I loved it.”
The fun included a third-and-10 conversion to Tyler Conklin in a two-minute drill when Uzomah, Conklin and Jeremy Ruckert all lined up wide.
“Defense is looking out there like, what the hell are we doing? What is this? Is this real life?” Uzomah said. “Then Aaron does his Aaron thing and tells each of us what to do, and we convert on third down.”
Earlier in practice, Ruckert made a diving catch of a pass from Rodgers, yet another sign from the second-year man out of Lindenhurst that after a rookie season mostly lost to a lingering foot injury, he is ready to contribute.
“He had a great OTA and he’s having a really nice camp,” coach Robert Saleh said. “I am really looking forward to him getting on the field and seeing him in game action [in preseason].”
Ruckert, who will turn 23 on Friday, is looking forward to it, too.
Last season, his foot problems made for a slow start. He ended up appearing in only nine games and catching one pass, for eight yards, in the season finale.
“I’m physically more comfortable, mentally more comfortable and I’m just having so much more fun this year than I was last year dealing with the injury,” he said. “This is the most fun I’ve had in a long time.”
It helps that the veterans no longer are “rookie-ing” him, as Uzomah put it, with random fines and tasks such as bringing in egg sandwiches every Saturday.
The rookie tight ends and offensive linemen last season had to pay for a lavish “rookie dinner” for veterans at these positions. “That one hurt,” Ruckert said.
Now he is one of the guys, on and off the field.
“He’s grown leaps and bounds,” Uzomah said, “I think that first to second season is where you grow the most, and you can tell the strides that he’s made in the offseason, the strides that he’s made on the field.
“His run blocking is really, really good, and there was never a doubt about his hands. His route-running is improved immensely. You can tell the game is slowing down for him . . . I’m praying we go a lot of ‘13’ personnel.”
That “13” personnel indicates three tight ends, and Uzomah believes that such an alignment can cause the sort of headaches it did for the defense on Sunday.
“All three of us can do everything,” Uzomah said. “If you match us against a corner, we have that size advantage, but you also have to watch out, because to me we’re all sneaky- fast. I think once we get our stride open, it’s tough for any of the corners.
“Sauce [Gardner] is a freak athlete, and still we feel like we have that size advantage. They kind of underestimate us and we run by, and it’s just a mismatch. That’s how I feel all three of us are.”
Ruckert recalled his rookie razzing as being “all love. I understand it. Now that we have some other rookies, it’s a lot more fun now.”
The goal is to turn a strong offseason into a productive season, and many more beyond that. “Hopefully have a long, healthy career,” Ruckert said, “and keep getting rookies to pay for my dinner.”
Streveler waived. The Jets waived/injured fourth-string quarterback Chris Streveler, who had an outstanding preseason last year but injured his thumb last Thursday in the Hall of Fame Game against the Browns.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
