After being cut back in February, just weeks before the lockout officially began, it looked like Damien Woody’s career with the New York Jets was over.
2010 second-round pick Vladimir Ducasse was already being penciled in as the starter to replace Woody on the right side despite the fact that Ducasse struggled to pick up the playbook during his rookie season and saw only limited time.
However, it’s now looking like the lockout could have Woody back in Jets green for at least one more season, and Ducasse waiting another year to become a full-time starter.
“From what I’m hearing, Woody will likely be back at a reduced rate,” Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News told Mike Florio on Tuesday’s PFT Live. “And I think part of that is driven by the fact that Ducasse hasn’t been able to work with the coaching staff.”
Well, of course it’s because Ducasse hasn’t been able to work with the coaching staff. If the kid couldn’t grasp the playbook after an entire year with the coaching staff, what makes anyone think he’ll be able to pick it up on his own during the lockout?
Way to head out on a limb, Mehta.
Anyway, this looks like the best move for the team by far. Personally, I was left scratching my head when I saw Woody had been released. There could have been a little loyalty at work in that the Jets wanted to give Woody a chance to land a starting job elsewhere before asking him to come back as the backup to a second-year kid, but given the fact that Ducasse couldn’t get on the field regularly as a rookie it was a huge jump to just go ahead and cut a proven veteran like Woody.
Something tells me this isn’t the last story we’ll hear about a vet hanging on to his job for another season as a result of this lengthy lockout that seemingly has no end in sight.