The No. 4 overall pick Ahmad “Sauce” Gardner and No. 26 overall pick Jermaine Johnson aren’t feeding into their draft status hype.
The Jets are banking on the additions of Gardner and Johnson to elevate Gang Green’s defense from the bottom of the NFL. So the two defensive first-round picks could boast by predicting dominance for their first season. But at rookie minicamp, neither are focused on their individual goals. They’re concentrating on being good teammates and helping the Jets win games.
“Anything that comes along with Jermaine being Jermaine, and investing all I can into the team,” Johnson said from the Jets training facility in Florham Park Saturday. “I don’t put a ton of expectations on myself in that aspect. In my experience, you put the team first and you operate the right way instead of all the individual stuff on it. And more times than not, it’s greater than what you could have shot for being selfish.”
Gardner was slightly more candid with his own expectations of his rookie season.
“Good impact,” Gardner said on Friday. “I know I have vets, I like being a sponge. I just want to soak up as much information as I can from those guys, be the best, the best teammate that I can be.”
Regardless of their humbleness, both have the talent to raise the play of the Jets defense.
Johnson joined a talented defensive line, featuring John Franklin-Myers and Quinnen Williams, who produced solid seasons in 2021 with six sacks a piece. Carl Lawson will also be back after tearing his Achilles in training camp last year. The Jets’ hope is he can resemble the Lawson who was once the predicted Jets’ best player, destroying offensive lineman in the pass and run game throughout training camp.
A group led by those three players will make Johnson’s rookie year much easier as it will ease the pressure on him to be a dominant pass rusher in Year 1.
“Those guys are pros, pros, right? They do things the right way. They got a lot of years under their belt,” Johnson said. “So just be able to sit around them and learn from them and soak up all I can. And then be able to prove myself as a worthy teammate, as a worthy brother. Now, that’s very important to me. So, anyway, I can do that, that’s extremely important to me. That’s really the most important thing on my mind right now is getting around those guys and showing them what I’m about.”
Gardner’s selection fortifies a cornerback group that featured Bryce Hall, Brandin Echols, Michael Carter II, Isaiah Dunn, Javelin Guidry and free agent signing D.J. Reed.
“However they want to use me, I’m willing to be versatile, I’m willing to do whatever it takes to win,” Gardner said.
“They want to play zone, they want to play man, they want to blitz me, they want to put me at linebacker,” Gardner joked. “I don’t think that’s going to happen, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes, however they want to use me.”
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