LI's Rob Calabrese enjoying first year as Jets quarterbacks coach
Zach Wilson #2 of the Jets talks to Rob Calabrese quarterbacks coach of the New York Jets at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center on July 30, 2021 in Florham Park, New Jersey. Credit: Getty Images/Adam Hunger
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Working close to home has been "awesome," Rob Calabrese said, especially being near his family on Long Island. But it is not without its challenges.
Take traffic.
"My dad [Bob] came to a couple of games, but it took him like four hours to get home after the Cincinnati game," the Jets’ first-year quarterbacks coach said Friday.
"I try to get him to come out. I told him to stay over the next time — don’t even worry about getting back."
Calabrese, 31, said all of the above with a smile, clearly enjoying his experience both on a personal level and a professional one. He’s part of a team of coaches charged in particular with the education of rookie Zach Wilson.
Calabrese said he has seen continuing improvement in Wilson since he was drafted No. 2 overall. He said missing four games benefited the rookie in part because of his commitment to studying.
"He is a grinder," Calabrese said. "He loves watching film. He knows what to do. Now it’s just kind of take that to the field, and if it doesn’t play out the way you saw on film, that’s OK, you’re moving on."
Calabrese is part of a large coaching team guiding Wilson, including coordinator Mike LaFleur, offensive assistant Matt Cavanaugh and Wilson’s personal coach, John Beck, who joined the staff last month.
"It’s definitely a unique situation, but I think it’s a great situation for myself, for the coaches, for Zach," Calabrese said. "The one thing we do do is make sure we’re all on the same page."
The former East Islip quarterback had been the Broncos’ offensive quality control coach for two seasons when Robert Saleh tabbed him as a member of his Jets staff in January.
"It’s been awesome, coming back home, being able to be close to my family," Calabrese said in his first comments to reporters this season. "I’m a Jets fan, a lifelong Jets fan. So it’s been really good for me."
Calabrese was 5 years old when Boomer Esiason last played for the Jets, but he said his fellow former East Islip quarterback has been a longtime mentor.
"I have a Boomer jersey that’s actually signed by him," Calabrese said. "I was wearing it at one of the East Islip varsity games when I was a kid and he came over and grabbed me by the jersey and signed it . . . Being able to talk to Boomer throughout my playing career and my coaching career, he’s been really good."
Calabrese played quarterback at Central Florida, so when the Broncos lost four players at the position to COVID-19 protocols last season, there was thought given to throwing him into that job until the NFL nixed the idea.
"I just went through practice and kind of got the reps for the guys, and we didn’t know what was going to happen with the quarterbacks," Calabrese said.
"They had mentioned it to me, but I had work to do so I didn’t think about it, and they came back and said, ‘You can’t play.’ I was like, ‘Oh, you guys were serious?’ "
How would it have gone if he had been given the chance?
"This is the NFL," Calabrese said. "I haven’t played in a long time . . . I don’t know. That would have been a scary sight, but it would have been fun."
Notes & quotes: CB Michael Carter II and RB Tevin Coleman, both in concussion protocol, were ruled out for Sunday’s game. So was TE Trevon Wesco (ankle). WR Elijah Moore (quadriceps) and G Laurent Duvernay-Tardif (ankle) are questionable.
Jeff Smith was placed on the reserve/ COVID-19 list, further reducing the Jets’ options at receiver.
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.
