The members of the Jets offense spent a lot of last season sniping at one another and now two players who weren’t part of the group last year are having a back-and-forth about the quality of the Jets receiving corps.
Cornerback Antonio Cromartie has been working with the wide receivers a bit during training camp and the experience left him feeling like he was the second-best receiver on the team. That didn’t sit too well with Jets wideout Chaz Schilens, signed as a free agent from Oakland this offseason. Schilens said he and other receivers felt slighted by Cromartie’s comments and that he thinks Cromartie is lacking a proper understanding of what it takes to be an NFL receiver.
“I’ll let him think whatever he wants,” Schilens said, via the New York Daily News. “I think he thinks receiver is a little different from what it actually is. He’s unbelievably talented and he plays cornerback.”
Offensive coordinator Tony Sparano didn’t weigh in on where Cromartie ranks on the depth chart, but did say he appreciated Cromartie’s confidence. He and the rest of the Jets coaches obviously also appreciate Cromartie’s talent (or believe there’s a lack of it among the current receivers) or they wouldn’t be trying to see if they could gain anything by playing on both sides of the ball.
On some teams,inter-offense yapping might feel like trouble. It feels like old hat for the Rex Ryan Jets.