New York Jets Player Previews: Tyler Conklin & Michael Carter II

hello welcome to another episode of in the trenches with Gang Green I'm your host bubs today we have another installment of the New York Jets 2024 player previews this is episode 9 and we will be taking a look at two more New York Jets as we enter the 2024 season one player on offense and the other player on defense we will take a look at tight end Tyler Conlin and cornerback Michael Carter thei into today's episode now before we begin let me quickly tell you about our podcast Partners starting with our friends over at seek seek is an app that gathers tickets from all over the Internet and puts them into one spot to make it easier for you the buyer what makes seek so great is they rate each ticket on a scale from 0 to 10 so you know what type of deal you are getting and you know if you are paying the right price or not on your ticket plus my viewers use promo code bubz on Sports for $20 off your purchase click the link in the description down below that'll take you to download the seek app and once again promo code bubz on Sports for $20 off your purchase tickets for anything not just football not just sporting events plays com concerts shows if you can buy a ticket for an event seek has it promo code bubs on Sports for $20 off your purchase also my friends over at Huga house you see me wearing my Huga house hat all the time on the podcast if you want the Hat I wear all the time on the show or any of the hats that qb1 Aaron Rogers wears even Shane Gillis shotani Tyler Conlin so many athletes so many celebrities where the Huga house vintage inspired hats if you want any of the hats that Huga house offers click the link in the description down below that'll take you to the Huga house store and use promo code bubs for 15% off any purchase and get yourself some Huga house swag once again promo code bubs for 15% off your purchase at Huga house get yourself some of the same swag that qb1 Aaron roders is rocking all right now let's get into today's player pre you episode number nine let's take a look at tight end Tyler Conlin here on offense to start things off so Tyler Conlin 63 248 pounds 29 years old just turned 29 on July 30th actually funny uh he just turned yeah just turned 29 on July 30th so middle first week of Camp here he turned 29 so he will enter his age 29 season here with the New York Jets he's is a 2018 fifth round draft pick 157th overall of the Minnesota Vikings selected out of Central Michigan and he's a veteran been around for a little while now spent the first four years of his NFL career with the Minnesota Vikings he has now spent the last two years with the New York Jets so in total he has spent six seasons in the NFL and he uh enters the seventh year of his NFL career now he the last year with the New York Jets he signed a three-year 20.25 million contract 6.75 aav 5.65 signing bonus uh and he is going to be a free agent at the end of this year so Conlin enters the final year uh in his contract before he will be 30 years old next year uh and ultimately entering what will be his eighth season in the NFL so a veteran a guy that's been around a guy that has seen a lot a very reliable tight end and a guy that has put together a really really nice career for himself ever since he really kind of broke out uh in 2021 with the Vikings and has had a very productive two years with the New York Jets and really to be honest with you you you know we'll put it simply here we've talked about this a lot we've talked about it with so many receivers we've talked about it at nauseum it feels like it kind of feels like we're beating a dead horse but it still needs to be brought up when you're discussing pass catchers for the New York Jets that have been on the team in some aspect over the last years and that is the fact that they've been giving no quarterback play and what makes Tyler Conklin what makes what he has done for the New York Jets in his first two seasons with the team ever since he signed the contract in the 2022 off season what makes what Tyler Conlin has done so impressive he's had two career years while he's been in New York specifically last season being his best of his career but put up some numbers close to career highs in 2022 but last year was the legitimate breakthrough career year is Tyler Conlin while it sometimes gets lost in the shuffle has dealt with the same historically bad terrible quarterback play as everybody else on the team and for Conlin to be able to go out there a tight end at that the Jets have had so many failures at the tight end position for such a long time for tight end to come in here find a way to produce in so many different schemes under two very dysfunctional offensive coordinators and under multiple multiple different quarterbacks whether it was Mike White Joe flacko Zack in 2022 strer when he came in for Zack in that Thursday night Jacksonville disaster or if whether it was last year where he only gets four snaps of Rogers and then gets the Tim Bole Trevor Simeon Zack Wilson performances thrown his way for this guy to go out here and play all 17 games each of the last two seasons and put up the numbers he has put up is so impressive and Tyler Conlin is a guy for me that I am fired up to see what he can do this season he just like Garrett Wilson he just like everybody else in this roster deserves a chance to get to play with a Hall of Fame quarterback and what he can do with Aaron roders it feels like the skies the limit for this tight end entering his seventh season and his third with the New York Jets when you look at Tyler Conlin's numbers you break him down 2022 2023 so in 2022 his first year with the team 58 catches for 8 on 87 targets 552 yards three touchdowns nine and a half yards per reception you look at his 2023 numbers 61 receptions 87 targets 62 yards 10.2 yards per reception did not find the end zone a lot of that was the quarterback and I want to get to some Red Zone stats here in a second of how the Jets need to utilize conkin differently this year in the red zone so in his jet career two years with the team he has tallied 119 receptions on 174 targets 1,173 yards and three touchdowns he has tallied 2,95 yards in his career 1,173 of those have come in the last two years in the Big Apple um Conlin last season when you take a look at at some of the numbers uh career-high in yard 621 he tied a career high in receptions he had 61 receptions with the Vikings in 2021 had 61 last year tied a career high in 20202 and touchdowns with three also had his third highest yards in his career in 2022 so has put up some of the best numbers of his NFL career over the last two seasons this has been one of the better signings for Joe Douglas also if you look at kind of where Tyler conin has ranked and this is where I think he is going to hit another level if you look at his numbers right with all the quarterback play with all these problems on offense you look at his numbers not only where they rank amongst the Jets you know last season was the third most t uh had the third most receptions on the team was the third most targeted receiver had the second most yards not only did he get the ball a ton not only they look his way a lot but you look at his numbers he took advantage of the chances he got his tight end rankings last year where he ranked among tight ends his 61 receptions were 11th his 87 targets were 13th and his 62 one yards were 13 so he was a top 13 tight end in the NFL last year you look at 2022 58 receptions were tied for eth his 87 targets tied for eighth 552 yards tied for 12th three touchdown sounds tied 16th he was a top 13 as well tight end this guy with Aaron roders right top 13 tight end with terrible quarterback play you give him Aaron Rodgers he can easily insert himself as a most likely borderline top 10 tight end in the NFL maybe even top nine top eight he's already top 13 it's not crazy to see him jump three four spots jump three four guys with Rogers throwing him the football this year and hopefully a new look offense from a play calling perspective that'll get him the ball in big spots and get him the ball to fit his game you'd like to see him get a lot more involved in the red zone so the numbers are there the performances have been there you know obviously a lot of exciting things when you look at those type of numbers and and what he's been able to do and him and G Wilson I think are the two guys you're most excited to see with Aaron Rogers just because of the production that they've had without him uh the back-to-back you know of course back-to-back 10,00 yard years for Garrett Wilson conin mustering up recur high in yards despite all this happening all despite all the issues around uh these pass catchers in the offense the last two years um I think he can 100% enter top 10 tight end status this year I don't think that's crazy you look at the numbers he's top 13 already you give him a Hall of Fame quarterback it's not crazy to see him jump three spots into the top 10 another thing too that flies under the radar with Conlin is there's been so many moving Parts injury-wise with the Jets on offense over the last two seasons Conan's so durable he's played all 17 games in fact he's played every single game for four straight Seasons the last game he's missed you'd have to go all the way back to 2019 and he's only missed one game in his NFL career he has played a 98 of a possible 99 games in his NFL career so a guy that is extremely durable uh just a good veteran good locker room guy just an allaround solid betet to have on your team and a really really solid solid tight end he's not Elite he probably won't be but really solid and borderline top 10 you give him a quarterback another thing too that I think is is really impressive too with Conlin is his ability to catch you know his contested catches I think you're going to see a lot of that this year you know middle of the field downfield a little bit he had a couple really really big contested catches this year um I also thought too you know 20122 a conkling their drops were a little bit of a concern but this season significantly better when it came to drops they didn't have nearly as many felt like the drops really kind of dropped off no pun intended there but uh drop you saw drop you saw a decrease in in the drops he had suffered a couple drops in his first season at times with the Jets but last year I thought got a lot better I thought some of the late game situations he made a couple really big plays you know I always go back to that Denver game where it was I believe it was a fourth down and like nine and Zach stepped up actually made a good throw got it to conin but it it was tough coverage physical coverage Conlin caught it and ended up had guys all over him but ended up grinding his way to get like six seven yards after the catch um just that physical element of his game that I think also kind of flies under the radar now something that I would really want because look you look at concord's numbers last year very impressive but he didn't reach the end zone and something that I really want the Jets to do this season with their tight ends is get them involved more in the Red Zone I mean how many times last year did we see the Jets fail in the Red Zone but not even make an attempt to look Conlin's way not even make an attempt to set up a play to try and scheme Conklin open tight ends in the Red Zone that's where they make their money most of the time big body physical receivers can go get up go up and get the one-on-one ball can go across the middle and and you know and haul in a a reception even if they're three four yards short can lower their shoulder and get themselves into the end zone and the Jets just didn't use Conlin the right way last year I broke this down in an episode way back in the offseason about the tight end usage for the Jets in the Red Zone when you look at conin last season he had three receptions seven targets 42.9% recep uh reception percentage 11 yards in the Red Zone he had three Re he had seven Targets in the red zone seven targets all the Jets combined last year had 12 targets and six receptions that is I mean malpractice to say the very least the fact that Hackett couldn't find a way to scheme up tight end specifically Conlin to get open in the red zone and I compared these numbers to some of the other top tight ends in the NFL even a guy like Cole KT who's not Elite but solid and let's just go through the list right Conlin seven Targets in the Red Zone last year let's look at other tight ends across the NFL that their targets in the Red Zone uh Sam leapor 15 targets Mark Andrew 14 targets Jake Ferguson 24 targets Kelsey 20 targets TJ hackinson 14 targets George KD 13 targets Cole KT 13 targets I mean and Conklin had seven and only three catches the Jets need to get Tyler conin so much more involved you look at the top tight ends in the NFL and look at all these teams too leap pora Lions deep playoff run Mark Andrew Ravens deep playoff run Jake Ferguson Cowboys Cowboys ball uh flunk out every year we get that Kelsey super Ro Champions Hockinson Vikings all right Kur cousins injury Josh dos for a couple weeks that was it KD Super Bowl whatever runnerup finalist whatever Cole K Bears all right they weren't great but they've got New Hope with Caleb Williams most of the teams they have are good they've got really good tight ends and they're really good tight ends are really good in the red zone and the Jets need to get Tyler conin more involved I don't really think it's Tyler Conlin I think it's more the Jets I think it's more hacket I think it's more Rogers to try and find ways to get him the ball he needs to find the end zone more and I think he should you look at the top tight ends in football seven Targets in 17 games is so pathetic and let's be fair too the Jets weren't in the red zone as much as these other teams last year I mean they you know the Jets being in the red zone was kind of a a little bit of a a surprise at times last season so the red zone offense should be significantly better with Rogers and Tyler Conan's production should be significantly better as well I think that's probably the thing that hurt conkin the most he did a lot of really good things but that I think that's when it came to quarterback play I think that's what hurt conkin the most was the Red Zone stuff when he came down to the play calling in the quarterback he never reached the end zone and that shouldn't happen and big look big season for him right you know we'll see what happens with him in the future you know of course if Rucker has a really good year do they roll with him next season who knows um but final year of his contract you know could look to go in for for one more big big payday um if he really inserts himself as a top 10 this season and you know he was top three in pretty much all the New York Jets receiving categories last year you look at Tyler Conan as a guy you look at the Jets that are probably going to touch the ball the most it's going to be Bree Hall it's going to be Garrett Wilson it's probably going to be Tyler Conklin and maybe if Mike Williams is in full swing and 100% he'll be right there as well but those are your core guys in offense that got to show up and I'm fired up to see what Tyler Conan could do he deserves great quarterback play just as the rest of this team does because what he's been able to do without it is is pretty remarkable so that's Tyler Conlin player preview Now we move on here to the defensive side of the football and go to the cornerback room and breaking down Michael Carter II 510 184 lbs 25 years old 2021 fifth round pick 154th overall out of Duke and this has quickly become Michael Carter II mc2 has quickly turned into one of Joe Douglas's best draft picks and I talked about this in the jaman would player preview in the other episode the other day um but I it's funny how the 20 you look back at the 2021 draft class it's so interesting because you look at the 2021 draft class right Zack Wilson was a complete bust Elijah Moore was a bust Michael Carter the running back you cut him last season didn't pan out Jason pinok gone nashal Dean gone Jonathan Marshall gone Brandon Eckles depth not bad depth but then you've got your hits where jamen Sherwood has been a really nice depth piece and you got Michael Carter who has turned into one of the best if not the best we'll call him the best here slot cornerback in the NFL that that that is just how interesting that draft is Douglas swung and Miss on the second overall pick but hit on some really solid pieces in day number three with Sherwood coming in the fifth round Carter coming in the fifth round Eckles coming I believe in the sixth round uh or or maybe even later than that but you get the point very strange draft early on now he did hit on avt of course but early on didn't work out later in the draft ended up working out either way Michael Carter has been one of Douglas's biggest deals I I think you look at the way this defense has been built and over the last couple years you kind of looked at the defense and there was some of those guys that kind of flew under the radar came to the Jets and really just took off and Michael card was one of those guys he was a safety at Duke originally a safety coming out Jets transformed him into a corner and not only have they transformed him into a productive Corner they've transformed him into arguably the best slot cornerback in the NFL let's just jump right to the numbers so in his career 47 games played has 185 total tackles one sack that came in his rookie year not that that means much one force fumble two fumble recoveries two interceptions and nine or 23 passes defended rather that's his career numbers and eight tackles for loss very very impressive last year specifically nine passes defended 50 tackles one force fumble now very very productive career his 2023 PF overall grade 80.4 easily it to to be able to transform from safety to corner has been seamless for him and for this Jets defensive coaching staff Robert Salah and of course or head coach Robert Salah and of course jeffri have transformed him into an elite player let's take a look and this is why I think he's the best slot quarterback in the NFL there's a couple of them out there but this is why I think he's the best just take a look at these numbers and where he ranks among slot quarterbacks in the NFL last season these are his 2023 numbers first in total yards allowed he allowed 195 yards that was first amongst slot quarterbacks first in total reception allowed he allowed just 25 first in the NF among SLO quarterbacks allowed 0.54 yards per snap first among slot Corners allowed 14.4 14.4 snaps per reception first in slot Corner among slot quarterbacks his PFF coverage grade of 83.3 on top of his a overall grade of 80.4 first among slot corners and something else what makes Michael Carter so great is this last number here which may be the most important and what makes this Jets cornerback room so so special is they don't take many penalties I mean how many years have we gone by with the New York Jets prior to this Trio of sauce mc2 and DJ Reed coming together how many years did we have to go through of pass interference P interference past interference so many times it's so excruciating one thing this room does not do is get many penalties they're that good Michael Carter II in 15 games played last year had one penalty one penalty that was the lowest and the best first among slot Corners so he was first among slot Corners in six different categories if that doesn't tell you on top of the eye test because he's very underrated look DJ Reed and Michael Carter will always be underrated because s is the number one he's the shutdown guy he's the elite Corner he's always going to get all the attention DJ Reed and Michael Carter II will always be underrated as long as they're with the Jets but being first in six different categories among slot Corners is just simply ridiculous and you watch this guy play and you just watch the Speed and the energy and the physicality and just kind of the smarts that he plays with for a guy that's only entering his fourth year in the NFL he is scary good he is really really good and it's quickly turned into one of my favorite Jets and and that's the scary point he's only he's only 25 years old he's only entering year number four he's in the he's in the beginning of his prime beginning of his Prime and has shown you so much now the question is look and he's a part of's I think he's a I think you look at the Jets cornerback room we've already previewed DJ Reed we're previewing Michael cter now we'll preview sauce here in a later later episode I I think you look at the Jets cornerback room right now I think you can make a case for the Jets to have three top 10 Corners I know a lot of people say three top 15 Corners DJ Reed maybe just outside the top 15 but or top 10 I think you look at this room and you say sa is number one he's the best Michael Carter's the best slot you've got the best number one corner you got the best slot and you got DJ Reid who is easily top 15 top 12 maybe top 10 just it was simply dominant now reason I bring up Reed the reason I bring up the Jets cornerback room as a whole is they're going to have some decision to make right Michael Carter of course not being the fifth round pick they don't have that fifth year option so he's a free agent at the end of this season and question becomes will the New York Jets pay him do they do pay both I don't think they'll be able to pay both they're going to have to choose Michael Carter in my eyes is going to want to be the highest paid slot quarterback back in the NFL and rightfully so I just rattled off the numbers he statistically is the best slot quarterback in the NFL and stats aren't the end all be you watch this guy play on Sundays and come back to me he's you're gonna tell me he's the best he's the best slot corn in the NFL and maybe the most one of the most underrated Corners as well in the NFL but based off of those numbers based off of all that stuff he's going to want to get paid as the highest slot DJ Reed's also going to want paid he might look more for quarterback one money I think Michael Carter will be here long term I think if they're if they would to move on from one of those guys it's going to be DJ Reid who's going to go elsewhere going to go sign a big contract with somebody else and get paid cornerback number one money and I think they're going to take the younger Michael Carter who is entering the big inning of his prime rather than DJ Reid who is probably more in the middle of his prime to reaching not the end yet but in the middle of his prime I think you're going to take the guy that's in the beginning so I think mc2 Michael Carter II will be here for a very long time I think they'll extend him and he'll get highest quarterback money next season next offseason it doesn't seem like anything will get done during camp but again we'll see or maybe something during the year but either way you look at the highest paid nickel quarterbacks in the NFL um it's teron Johnson of the bills threee 10.25 aav and then Kenny Moore of the Colts three years 10 million so you'd probably be looking at 10 million a you probably be looking at Carter Michael Carter II may be looking at 11 to 11. 5 12 million aav potentially uh to top both those guys on a three-year deal probably somewhere around that um and if he has another year like he had last season or if he has a year like he's put together his first three seasons um I think you have to extend him you have to give him that long-term deal he'll be just 26 and three next year just a really really good player and another good two locker room guy as well that's starting to enter that leadership role as he enters year number four so Michael Carter II that's your player preview on him let me know what you think in the comments section down below what are your expectations what are your predictions uh for both Tyler Conlin and Michael Carter here in 2024 we will have more player preview episodes coming out next week with episode 10 on Monday but until then as always Jets Jets Jets Jets