Landry speaks
Washington Redskins first round draft pick LaRon Landry runs through drills during the football team's training camp in Ashburn, Va. (Aug. 1, 2007) Credit: AP
Despite rehabbing from two injuries and spending much of the offseason away from his new defense, the Jets safety had “no doubt” he’d return for minicamp “and not be ready.”
“I’ll be ahead of the game,” Landry said after Wednesday’s minicamp.
Speaking in his first interview since his March signing, the safety said he spent two or three weeks with the Jets during their offseason strength and conditioning program, but returned to Arizona to undergo stem cell treatments for his Achilles and foot.
His rehab has gone so well, Landry said he’s “shocked” himself.
As for his training camp status, he said: “As of right now, I’m progressing. Things are going real well…So I’m looking forward to it. Can’t wait to get back out there and be with the team.”
When asked later how far ahead of schedule he is, Landry said he’s “not there yet. But I’m not taking any steps back.”
The safety, who has received platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in the past, also had an “AmnioMatrix” – a stem-cell procedure that “is way more advanced than the PRP,” he said – in February while in Arizona. He later had another PRP to “top it off.”
“It basically gets in there and heals what’s ever in there; the affected area. It hits everything: the Achilles and the heel and the bone part,” he said, adding that he’s been dealing with his Achilles injury for “a year, two years now.”
Originally Landry was expected to get three AmnioMatrix treatments, but said he only needed one. “So that’s a blessing,” he said. “I’m ahead of the game. And I feel great about it.”
Even though he was away from the team during his rehab, Landry said he had his playbook with him. But the biggest challenges will be picking up the verbiage and get on the same page as the rest of the secondary.
Bart Scott said Landry would have been ahead of the learning curve had he been around to hear the terminology in defensive meetings. But the veteran linebacker thinks there’s plenty of time for Landry to master it as long as he gets a lot reps in practice. To speed up the process, Scott suggested the safety learn the concepts, rather than plays because “the call just changes who’s doing it,” the linebacker said. “But it’s pretty much the same thing over and over again.”
After hearing about Rex Ryan-led defenses from his brother Dawan, a former Baltimore Raven, Landry had a feeling he would be a good fit with the Jets.
“He was like, ‘As soon as you visit the Jets, sign,’” he said of his brother’s advice. “He kept telling me the whole time: ‘No need to look nowhere else. You’re going to love it.’”
And even though he has yet to take a practice rep, Landry is convinced he will.
“I love it,” he said of the Jets defense. “It enables me to do what I need to do, it enables me to play how I know how to play. …I give 110 percent from start to finish. I leave it all out on the field and just do it for the team. I’m not an individual, and I’ll do anything to win.”