The last friend we know of could be the most consequential. The Jets drafted D’Angelo Ponds high in Round 2 in April and figured for him to compete hard and fast for playing time, perhaps at nickel. Once Ponds returns from his calf strain that has kept him out since early in camp, that’s a potential position battle. But again we must consider not only Brownlee’s sometimes fiery, always upbeat approach but also his Magic City relationship with Ponds.
“I don’t really look at stuff like that,” Brownlee said. “I just keep my feet where they are, just wake up every day, and I’m blessed to be here and I just go out there try to get better.
“That’s my brother,” he said of Ponds. “We’re both from Miami, and when kids are from Miami, we stick together when we leave outside the city. I’ve always got his back. I can’t wait for him to get back. just to have him in the room. He’s a smart kid, a great athlete, great footwork, and he’s just a dog at 5-9. You don’t expect a lot of people to play the way he does at 5-9. I can’t wait for him to get back and put on a display when he is able to play.”
Meanwhile, Jarvis is planning to display out for the Jets and their fans in a few ways. One is in the Jets’ planned takeaway renaissance.
“The sense of urgency is 1,000 percent,” he said of the desire to break the interception and turnover dam from last year. “And I’m not the only one to feel that way. I think everyone on our defense, whether it’s a coach or a player, we need takeaways. Every day we challenge ourselves to get three a day, and if we don’t, there’s tough consequences for that. … We keep preaching the same message every day: the ball, the ball, the ball.”
How tough are those consequences? “We’ve got to run if we don’t get three, we’ve got to run gassers. That’s the standard, from the D-line room to all the way in the back end.”
In general, Brownlee is eager to bring his personal fire back into the Jets’ defensive arsenal.
“I know I bring a lot of energy to this team, so I’ve always got to be that energy guy, keep the energy up. But more than anything, just keep working on my technique. Every day there’s room for improvement,” he said. “So each and every day I come out here and just try to work on something and get better.”