Jets Red Zone: Ryan wants to see if Jackson is special
Head coach Rex Ryan, left, talks with Jets defensive coordinator Mike Pettine during a June minicamp. Credit: Joe Epstein.
Artificial intelligence
Brian Jackson is affectionately being called "Brain" by a few of his teammates because someone misspelled his name on one of the team items handed out to the rookie cornerback.
So it's probably only fitting that Rex Ryan wants to see how Jackson's intelligence will translate onto the field. Ryan mentioned Jackson's name when asked about some of the lesser-known players he's looking forward to watching in action in tomorrow's preseason opener against the Giants.
"He's physical," Ryan said of the 6-foot, 205-pound undrafted free agent out of Oklahoma. "I mean, that was the first thing that jumps out at you. He's competitive, physical and he's got some great length to him. So he doesn't have blazing speed and that's why we were able to get him as a free agent.
"But we were shocked he wasn't drafted. There were a ton of teams that wanted him."
The best shot for Jackson, who's missed part of camp with a knee injury, to make the cut is via Mike Westhoff's unit.
"I want to see how he plays on special teams," Ryan said. "That's the thing, these guys may not play defense for us the first year, but they are gonna play special teams. So you better stand up in big way and he has that opportunity. So we'll see how he does."
