New York Jets 2018 Training Camp Profile: Parry Nickerson
The New York Jets selected Parry Nickerson in the sixth round, and he has a chance to make an impact early on in 2018 from the slot corner position.
The NFL has become all about offense. With the rule tailored to make offenses better and even the personnel teams use, the offense seems to be king in today’s game. On the defensive side of the ball, though, the New York Jets made quite a few additions.
According to the site Sharp Football Stats, teams ran 11 personnel (one back, one tight end) 59% of the time in the NFL in 2017. That means a lot of slot receiver coverage.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Jets had 17 different players cover the slot in 2017. Eight of them allowed a passer rating of 100 or more. In addition to that, only two players had a coverage snaps per target rate and coverage snaps per reception over 10 and yards per coverage snap under one — Darron Lee and Morris Claiborne.
Buster Skrine — who led the team in snaps as a slot corner — allowed a passer rating of 104.7, was targeted every 6.1 snaps, allowed a catch every 9.4 snaps, and allowed 1.25 yards per snap. Those number ranked near the bottom among the 18 corners with at least 300 snaps in the slot.
Enter Parry Nickerson.
Training Camp Forecast
Since he’s a rookie who’s transitioning into a different role, we won’t discuss his college numbers, because they don’t necessarily translate well to the pros, and for one reason. He played outside in college and will transition to slot corner in the pros due to his size. So, there’s not a direct correlation there.
When it comes to speed and athleticism, he has those tools to make the transition. He showed good ball skills on the outside, but to transition to the inside requires quicker instincts and hands, because the ball arrives much quicker on the inside than it does on the outside.
2018 Season Outlook
If he can show the same skills he showed on the outside as he did in the slot, he will overtake Skrine as their primary nickel corner. Likely, it will take him some time to get used to the position change, but he may just do it by the end of camp.
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That said, he may not be their primary guy early on. The Jets may choose to rotate between one of their safeties and Nickerson until Nickerson is ready. However, by the end of the season, you will see him as their primary guy in the slot.