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Another Rookie Safety Makes Jets Take Notice


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Another Rookie Safety Makes Jets Take Notice

By KAREN CROUSE

Published: August 15, 2005

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y., Aug. 14 - Not to suggest the Jets' secondary is a primary concern, but Sunday's practice found quarterback Chad Pennington lining up at safety for a couple of plays.

Kerry Rhodes, a fourth-round draft pick out of Louisville, has long arms that uncoil like skeins of yarn, good range and a photographer's eye. When making his reads, he notices things like a quarterback taking a quick three-step drop or a receiver fidgeting. That attention to detail, the defensive backs coach Corwin Brown said, "is hard to teach."

The 23-year-old Rhodes dazzled in the Jets' 10-3 preseason victory Friday against the Detroit Lions, intercepting one pass and deftly deflecting another in the end zone as time expired. He distinguished himself again Sunday at an afternoon practice in which many of his peers, in the words of Coach Herman Edwards, had hit the wall.

"He's one of those guys, all of a sudden like Erik Coleman last year, they keep showing up, and eventually they walk out there on opening day and they're starting," Edwards said.

Coleman, a fifth-round draft pick in 2004, made 16 starts as a rookie safety.

Rhodes's competition at strong safety includes the fellow first-year players Andre Maddox and Atari Bigby and the second-year pros Rashad Washington and Oliver Celestin. As Rhodes sees it, if the New England Patriots could win a Super Bowl with a secondary that included two undrafted free agents (Earthwind Moreland and Randall Gay) and a second-year player (Asante Samuel), then he is not going to read too much into the Jets' inexperience.

"That New England secondary was young, and a lot of people didn't think they could do good out there," Rhodes said. "They succeeded, so it just gives you added incentive to do what you've got to do to make sure you can be the best player you can on the field and try to succeed also."

Rhodes is a cousin of the N.B.A. power forward Theo Ratliff, who started two games as a rookie with the Detroit Pistons in the 1995-96 season. So he does not see starting in his first year as an outlandish proposition, though he acknowledged that it would be difficult to make an immediate impact in the N.F.L.

"It's a big learning curve from college to the N.F.L. just because it's a different terminology," Rhodes said. "Also, with the N.F.L. the game is a little bit more physical, so it takes the body some time to mature to be able to take the beating on a consistent basis."

EXTRA POINTS

Chad Pennington, who is expected to start in Friday's preseason game against the Minnesota Vikings, will throw twice Monday for the first time since he had major shoulder surgery Feb. 8. "I just want to get him going a little bit more," Herman Edwards said, "and he wants that, too." ... Jay Fiedler visited the Chicago Bears and the Giants before deciding in March that the best fit was with the Jets, who were looking for a backup quarterback with starting experience as insurance in case Pennington was not ready to play. If Fiedler had signed with the Bears, he would be their starter for the foreseeable future because of the broken ankle sustained by Rex Grossman in the Bears' preseason opener. "There's a lot of ifs right now," Fiedler said. "But I made the right decision coming here, and I have no regrets." ... Darrell McClover, who fractured his left fibula in the preseason opener, will have surgery Monday.

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Rhodes shows speed, skills

BY KEN BERGER

STAFF WRITER

August 14, 2005

Rookie Kerry Rhodes, a fast, rangy safety with a 42- inch vertical leap, lived up to expectations in his debut Friday, soaring for a second-quarter interception and making a game-saving breakup in the end zone as time expired in the Jets' 10-7 win over Detroit.

Once he saw Jeff Garcia pump-fake, he knew it was a hitch-and-go route by Scottie Vines. Rhodes broke on the ball and outleaped Vines and cornerback Darrien Johnson

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As Rhodes sees it, if the New England Patriots could win a Super Bowl with a secondary that included two undrafted free agents (Earthwind Moreland and Randall Gay) and a second-year player (Asante Samuel), then he is not going to read too much into the Jets' inexperience.

Someone better wake this kid up. He has Hermie as his HC, not Belichicken. That is the reason the Pats won with two undrafted free agents in the secondary.

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I like Rhodes but that second quarter interception was not a great play -thrown into double coverage with no hope for a completion.

I agree. It was an under thrown pass that became a jump ball for someone to catch. He made a nice catch but I blame Garcia more than it being a great play.

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Someone better wake this kid up. He has Hermie as his HC, not Belichicken. That is the reason the Pats won with two undrafted free agents in the secondary.

harsh but true mudcat.......... however our d looks to be well coached by donnie h. which does give me hope that rhodes could succeed in his rookie year if donnie feels he's ready to take over.

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