DC Brian Duker on T’Vondre Sweat
The Jets have been taking a conservative approach with DT T’Vondre Sweat, who has been participating in training camp practices, but has yet to play during the preseason. He had been dealing with a minor hamstring injury, but DC Brian Duker sees the 6-4, 366 “large human” as a potential game changer.
“I think the first impact is at the linebacker level,” Duker said. “When you have a guy like that, it’s not easy for the O-line to climb up to them, and so it makes those guys able to be on block to the point of attack. That’s the most obvious correlation, I mean, certainly based on numbers alone, right? If they’re blocking him with two, somebody else is free. And so I talked about it at the linebacker level, but also a lot of times it means, let’s say, you’re the defensive end to his side, it means you’ve got the single block, right? And the guard’s probably heavy on that nose right there, so you got a good chance to win inside on that sometimes as well.”
STC Chris Banjo on Dane Belton
As S Dane Belton competes for a starting spot in the Jets’ defensive backfield, special teams coordinator Chris Banjo knows he’s got a special player on his hands. Belton, who signed in free agency after four seasons with the Giants, has amassed 1,144 snaps on special teams, 300-plus in each of the last three seasons.
“Just a football player, he’s the ultimate football player, regardless of whatever it is you ask him to do,” Banjo said. “I’m sure you guys [reporters] have seen him make plays on the defensive side of the ball as well. But when you talk about what he’s done from a special teams perspective, you can go watch his tape before he got here. But I encourage you to watch his tape since he’s been here. Again, he’s just been a football player from top to bottom, and I think he’s really been a great addition to our room.”