If there's anyone I'm excited to see this season, it is Stephen Hill. He seems to be the most improved player on the team. Braylon's presence as a mentor will definitely help him.
Cmon Zach, while the lockout assertion was incorrect, Hill,Holmes,and Keller missed 30 or so games. Thats three top targets.
Sounds like he worked really hard this off season and it's showing up on the field. I'm looking forward to seeing him this season. He has all the potential in the world ... could be a game changer.
If Hill has truly figured it out and isn't going to routinely drop easy passes, it will transform the offense. With a reliable Hill, the Jets have at a minimum an explosive deep threat who should back off the secondary opening breathing room for the run game... an unreliable Hill means more of the same old 3 and out offense.
Good, this is what we need to hear about Hill and Kerley. Especially Hill since he had his struggles last year staying healthy and getting the necessary work and practice in.
I think people were way too quick to write off Hill. People say he's "raw" without really thinking about what that means and how it affects a guy like Hill, with all the physical talent in the world, at this level. Brian Basset from The Jets Blog had a great report from the beginning of camp where he was watchig Lal work with Hill on shading his route to the sideline. He was literally just showing him takeoff angles - receiving 101 - and Hill was sitting there mesmerized and going "Ohhh!" The guy knew nothing about the positon at the pro level coming in and is now just starting to get the basics down beyond "go long", which is essentially all he did in college. I think Lal's been great for this guy, and assuming he can stay on the field he's going to have a ton of opportunity this season to show off what he's learned. The guy has everything you can't teach and hopefully he's going to soon have everything you can.
haha total brain collapse on that one. I knew that he missed a lot of time through TC with injuries though and then never really was able to get up to speed. Mostly, IMO, because he came into TC without being at the right fitness level. This year he's had the necessary care and guidance of the training and coaching staff to make sure he gets a good offseason in so hopefully that pays dividends over the course of the season.
In the NFL, the physical part is only 1/3 of the battle. Hill is exceptional, even for an NFL athlete, but for someone as unrefined as he is it requires extra mental work to get to a point where you can be a real force in the NFL, and a lot of young guys either don't have that work ethic or don't know how to have that work ethic. For every guy like him who succeeds, there are ten who fail. It really is not unreasonable to believe he won't progress... but so far it sounds like he is, hopefully he continues to show that on gameday.
No doubt it's an uphill (pun intended) climb, but the guy has so far shown the work ethic and mental toughness you need to make the jump to the next level. And on the subject of toughness, something else I think got overlooked last year about this guy, mostly because Sporano's offense was so goddamn terrible, is the fact that this guy is an exceptional run-blocker. With him and Braylon on the outside we might have two of the top 5 blocking receivers in the game AND an improved interior line for Ivory and Powell to run behind.
If he is the no. 1 receiver, we'll unfortunately probably have to wait until week 2 to see how good he truly is...
Time to test his speed vs Revis's new knee ligaments and his hammy....... go routes all game..... then hit Braylon or Kerley underneath
Victor Cruz has done wonders for Eli's confidence. Let's hope, with a little more O-line protection, the combination of Hill and Edwards can do the same for Sanchez. Or at least diminish the number of poorly timed balls, balls sailing 12' over the head, behind the receiver, at his ankles, too short, too long, out of bounds, etc.
Stephen Hill will always look good on the practice field. Nobody doubts his size and speed. The problem with Hill is injury concerns, route running and catching the ball... Don't expect Hill to make the jump to a #1 wideout in Year 2. He's a project and has to develop.
