The night before the first padded practice — an Aaron Glenn padded practice to be precise — feels like the night before a game. It did for Braelon Allen, at least, a big-bodied running back built for drawing contact, with a propensity for trying to run through defenders. He wasn’t able to do that in training camp before Monday, and didn’t do it at all as a rookie in last year’s camp. The Jets haven’t practiced tackling to the ground for years at this point — most NFL teams haven’t, not since the league made a concerted effort to protect player health. Maybe that leaned too far in the direction of caution.
Monday morning, defensive back Kris Boyd noticed everyone was a little quieter, staring at their lockers, focused as they put on pads for the first time this summer. “The butterflies come in,” Boyd said, “until you get on the field.”
In most camps, teams practice “thud” tackling, which isn’t really tackling — it’s contact above the waist without tackling to the ground. Glenn made a promise in the spring: We won’t tackle every day, but we will tackle.
“He was telling us — we’ll thud but we’re going to have those live days, so when I say tackle, it’s tackle,” Boyd said.
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Aaron Glenn just conducted the most physical Jets practice in years. Here’s how — and why