Jets' Javon Kinlaw's determination to battle through adversity exemplifies the type of player the franchise needs
New York Jets defensive tackle Javon Kinlaw at training camp on Monday. Credit: Ed Murray
Javon Kinlaw gleefully went through the menu that helped him add 35 pounds of lean muscle to his frame this offseason and enter his first Jets training camp with a 330-pound physique that coach Robert Saleh called “ginormous” and led Aaron Rodgers to refer to him as “a creature, a beast.”
There were the nine-egg breakfasts with a whole avocado on the side. Lunches that included six chicken breasts or a pound of chopped beef with noodles mixed in. All of that, every day.
“And a little salad on the side,” Kinlaw said.
Naturally.
But as he spoke after practice on Monday, it became clear that while the caloric infusion may have helped shape his body, there were other experiences that truly molded him into the player he is… and the one he wants to be. Trials that left Kinlaw himself in tears, gripping the lectern behind which he stood for physical and emotional balance.
“I've had a lot of dark days and, you know, just to be able to touch that grass, it's a big blessing, man,” he said, with his eyes watering over. “I've been through a lot, bro. Like, like for real.”
Kinlaw then needed a moment to gather himself.
The list of obstacles he overcame includes everything from spending part of his childhood homeless in Washington, D.C., after he, his mother and two siblings immigrated from Trinidad and Tobago, to missing nearly half of his first four NFL seasons with right knee injuries during his tenure with the 49ers. There are undoubtedly others that only he knows, too. Sure there are the millions he’s been paid as a first-round pick, but also the disappointment of having his fifth-year option declined by San Francisco and the uncertainty that free agency brought this spring.
It’s his story, and one he did not care to retell in much detail on Monday.
But he made it clear that all of it had made him into a player — the person — who refuses to be stopped.
“I've been through a lot, bro,” Kinlaw continued. “That's all I can really say. But I never gave up, you know? A lot of people would have given up, but I never gave up.”
The Jets certainly believe in him. Saleh and defensive line coach Aaron Whitecotton worked with him in San Francisco. They saw his potential when the 49ers drafted him 14th overall and have watched how he’s handled his bumpy career.
“You know, J.K., he's had kind of bad luck in the first couple of years with regards to injury, and last year was the first year that he was able to get it all through and he's put in a lot of work this offseason and the man is built the right way,” Saleh said. “He's got a tremendous mindset and then he wants to be great like all of them, and so I know he's going to take advantage every opportunity he gets here.”
Players like Kinlaw, ones who actually care, ones who understand the kind of chance this team has this season and that nothing is guaranteed, are just the kinds that the Jets need. There is certainly a place for superstars and proven veterans and the Jets have a fair share of them. But the foundation of the roster is stronger when it is constructed with the likes of Kinlaw, who sobs over the chance to practice, rather than a contractual holdout such as Haason Reddick. If the Jets are going to achieve their often-stated goals, then the Kinlaws of the team need to be the eggs and chicken and beef. Reddick can be the salad on the side.
Kinlaw knows that, too. He knows what it takes for a team to get to the top… or at least very close to it. He was part of the 49ers’ run toward their most recent Super Bowl appearance and saw their push to the conference championship game the year before that.
“It's hard work, man,” he said of the key to achieving such lofty goals. “It's hard work every day, day in, day out… And I love it. I love when people just work hard and just go at it. Drop your head down and just get to work and that's it. That's the only thing it's going to take, hard work, consistency and discipline, you know, at all phases, mind, body and spirit.”
Kinlaw hasn’t made a tackle yet. He’s participated in just one fully padded practice. Yet he’s already shown he can deliver those elements for his new team, and on Monday his emotions told the world how much the chance to do so means to him.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
