JetNation Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 By Glenn Naughton As if things aren’t hard enough for a late round draft pick to find a place on an NFL roster, imagine what it’s like for a player chosen in the seventh round and entering his second season under a head coach and general manager who had no part in selecting him in the first place. This is the exact situation Jets linebacker Trevor Reilly finds himself in, but the news isn’t all bad for the former University of Utah standout. While the Jets continue making moves to round out their roster prior to the NFL draft, Reilly should be pleased with what he’s seeing from a front office that seems to be placing an extraordinary amount of emphasis on versatility, something Reilly offers along with his excellent instincts and high-motor. A defensive end at the start of his collegiate career, Reilly wound up primarily lining up at outside linebacker, but he was asked to play every linebacker position at one time or another at Utah and did so without a drop-off in performance. At 27 years old Reilly is older than your average second-year player, but with that also comes a level of maturity and responsibility you may not get out of your average 22 year old. A two year Mormon mission in Sweden got Reilly’s college career off to a late start, a factor that likely played a role in his falling to the final round of the draft despite an excellent senior season when he tallied career highs in tackles, tackles for loss, and sacks (100/16/8.5). The most impressive aspect of the 6′ 5”, 245 lb California native was that his best college season wasn’t just about the production, but the fact that he did the majority of his damage when facing off against some of the bigger schools in the country as opposed to the smaller state universities on Utah’s schedule. During the latter stages of his senior year, Reilly had a four game stretch against Arizona, Southern Cal, Arizona State and Oregon in which he racked up 23 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and seven sacks. That surge played a part in Reilly being viewed as a potential third or fourth round selection before his unexpected freefall that saw him last until the final round. Going from a 4-12 campaign in which he was an afterthought, playing only 60 snaps, Reilly will now have the opportunity to prove himself to a staff that places value on his ability to be used in multiple roles. A second season that could be ideal situation for the former 7th rounder. View the full article Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pointman Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 The next Brian Toal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ohio State NY Jets fan Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 We need a couple of late round hits to build more depth and make up for the higher round misses... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flgreen Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 We need a couple of late round hits to build more depth and make up for the higher round misses... Agree This guy could actually be one that hits. I really wanted the Jets to take Reilly with one of the 4's last year. When they took him in the 7th I was really surprised. Thought for sure he was already gone. Hoping he has a breakout season this year. With Babin, and Pace getting old, he should get a lot more snaps then he got last year. Think he is going to surprise in camp. Non stop motor, and he actually is a decent pass rusher. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larz Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 the swiss army jet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AFJF Posted April 24, 2015 Share Posted April 24, 2015 Agree This guy could actually be one that hits. I really wanted the Jets to take Reilly with one of the 4's last year. When they took him in the 7th I was really surprised. Thought for sure he was already gone. Hoping he has a breakout season this year. With Babin, and Pace getting old, he should get a lot more snaps then he got last year. Think he is going to surprise in camp. Non stop motor, and he actually is a decent pass rusher. The motor is what jumped out at me when I found a few Utah games to watch online. I saw him make some great plays in the backfield and a few where it looked like he was already blocked but he just kept fighting. Saw one play where a team ran the ball to his side inside the five-yard line and he got blocked by a pulling guard and while he was down on one knee leveraged himself and used his free arm to wrap up the RB for a loss with the full weight of the guard on his left side...just one play but showed great combo of strength/effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peekskill68 Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 The next Brian Toal. How about the next Nick Bellore? Could fill a big hole on special teams... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony The Wiz Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Liked the pick last year especially a real late round. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
papz187 Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Between him and IK hopefully one can become a good rotational player at OLBer. He should be a good contributor on STs too. That unit was neglected for a while and once Westoff left it really showed the decline.....STs was a big part of our success in 09 and 10. Sent from my SGH-M919 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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