Do not Rush To Judge Kendrick Ellis

[Kentucky Jet]

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Don’t rush to judge Jets’ troubled pick

Last Updated: 9:07 AM, May 1, 2011

Posted: 12:31 AM, May 1, 2011

Mark Cannizzaro

The announcement of the Jets’ third-round draft selection of Kenrick Ellis had barely finished echoing through Radio City Music Hall late Friday night when the knee-jerk reactionaries scurried out of the woodwork like cockroaches partying in a dirty kitchen after dark.

There’s no denying that Ellis, who starred as a nose tackle at Hampton, has made his share of mistakes.

He was dismissed from South Carolina reportedly for failing at least one drug test and he got into a fight last year at Hampton that has him embroiled in a pending court case for felony assault.

ROLE MODEL: Jets third-round pick Kenrick Ellis can turn to Marcus Dixon (above, sacking the Bears’ Jay Cutler), another former Hampton defensive lineman with a checkered past, for advice on how to handle life in the pros.

But Ellis, it should be noted, has never been convicted of a crime.

NFL DRAFT: ALL THE PICKS

And, after some research into the mistakes he has made and conversations with those closest to him, the Jets’ pick of Ellis appears to be much less risky than many have portrayed it to be.

The Post yesterday reached out to Hampton head coach Donovan Rose, Hampton defensive coordinator Keith Goganious, Jets defensive lineman Marcus Dixon, who also went to Hampton and has advised Ellis, several league sources who looked into him and a highly-placed source at South Carolina who spent a lot of time with Ellis before he was kicked off the team.

The consensus among everyone was that Ellis’ troubles were isolated incidents and that they are behind him.

My conclusion is that not only does Ellis look like a good fit for Rex Ryan’s defense, but he also looks like a guy whose troubles are in the past.

“He’s a quiet kid,” the South Carolina source said. “He wasn’t a bad kid. He just hung around with the wrong crowd and got involved with marijuana, and we drug test. He was young and made a mistake.”

Ellis’ current issue stems from a fight he had a year ago. According to sources familiar with the case, which is scheduled to go to trial in July, someone harassed Ellis’ girlfriend and came at Ellis with a bat, prompting Ellis to act in self-defense.

One source familiar with the case told The Post, “It will never even make it to trial.”

Rose called the fight “a self-defense matter,” adding, “In all the time we had him at Hampton, that’s the only blemish in his three years.”

“He’s been a model guy, a team leader,” Rose said. “All of us have done one thing

or another in the past. He’s a great guy. I call him a gentle giant. He’s a ‘yes-sir, no-sir’ guy. He’s a great find for the Jets.”

Ellis always will have to live with the mistakes he made, but that does not mean he’s a chronic offender who is bound to blow up in

the faces of the Jets as so

many pundits are blindly predicting.

“Kenrick is at a point in his life where he’s grown up and he sees how blessed he is — especially after [Friday] night,” Goganious said. “He’s going to take this as a challenge to prove himself,

to show the Jets, ‘I should be here. You guys didn’t make a mistake taking me.’ People are going to say, ‘Wow, this is a great kid.’ “

The NFL Draft is littered with players who have made mistakes.

In 1997, the Jets drafted defensive tackle Jason Ferguson, who slipped to the seventh round because he had a history of marijuana use. Ferguson became one of the team’s best defensive linemen and went on to play 13 NFL seasons.

Last year, the Jets signed Dixon, who spent time in jail before it was determined that he was wrongly accused of raping an underage girl. Dixon, who has been a solid citizen since the day he became a Jet, knows a thing or two about trying to shed a stigma.

“Everyone has made mistakes,” Dixon said. “Kenrick has a new start with

the Jets. The only thing he can do now is focus on playing football. All the other stuff will take care of itself. I don’t see him getting into any trouble anymore. I’m going to try to look out for him, but he knows it’s time be a grown man and play football.

“My advice to him was, ‘You can’t be stressing about the past. You’ve just have to live and make sure you live the right way and people will forget. Just live.’ “

mcannizzaro@nypost.com

[Larz]

how high was that dumb a$$ who harrassed his lady and came at him with a bat ?

jeez

[SenorGato]

but he knows it’s time be a grown man and play football.

He'll be fine.

[T0mShane]

By definition, can an isolated incident be repeated?

[PatriotReign37]

What could possibly go wrong in NYC?

[Warfish]

Best not to rush to judge any pick or player, till we see how they play and act as a professional for a bit.

Part of the trouble (IMO) with the hype of the draft these days is the rush to judgement. First by the media (who love a juicy story), then by Draft Know-it-alls (who are generally wrong 85% of the time, yet claim expert status), then by the Fans who not0unreasonably read all this stuff and react accordingly.

[Kentucky Jet]

Best not to rush to judge any pick or player, till we see how they play and act as a professional for a bit.

Part of the trouble (IMO) with the hype of the draft these days is the rush to judgement. First by the media (who love a juicy story), then by Draft Know-it-alls (who are generally wrong 85% of the time, yet claim expert status), then by the Fans who not0unreasonably read all this stuff and react accordingly.

Look at this rush to judgemet:

The Sporting News just graded the 2011 draft as follows.

New England Patriots A+

New York Jets D

And thats only if whats his name is able to hire a good enough lawyer to keep him from serving 20 years in prison.

[SenorGato]

Best not to rush to judge any pick or player, till we see how they play and act as a professional for a bit.

Part of the trouble (IMO) with the hype of the draft these days is the rush to judgement. First by the media (who love a juicy story), then by Draft Know-it-alls (who are generally wrong 85% of the time, yet claim expert status), then by the Fans who not0unreasonably read all this stuff and react accordingly.

+1

I personally can't wait to judge.

[DMaynard]

Look at this rush to judgemet:

The Sporting News just graded the 2011 draft as follows.

New England Patriots A+

New York Jets D

And thats only if whats his name is able to hire a good enough lawyer to keep him from serving 20 years in prison.

Why does the national media still so love the Patriots? Listening to the draft yesterday, they talk about Belichick like he a GOD and no one should even be mentioned in the same breath. They have not won the SB since 2004. And that is with NFL officals being told to never call them for offensive holding.

[Klecko73isGod]

Look at this rush to judgemet:

The Sporting News just graded the 2011 draft as follows.

New England Patriots A+

New York Jets D

And thats only if whats his name is able to hire a good enough lawyer to keep him from serving 20 years in prison.

Here's one from Fox Sports giving the Pats a D and the Jets a C+.

It's all a crapshoot.

[Mattyandthejets]

Look at this rush to judgemet:

The Sporting News just graded the 2011 draft as follows.

New England Patriots A+

New York Jets D

And thats only if whats his name is able to hire a good enough lawyer to keep him from serving 20 years in prison.

These sites and papers that grade drafts this early are ridiculous. I remember the praise people had for the panthers getting a steal in clausen, or how people were saying Gholston was going to lead the jets in tackles in his first year. No one knows ANYTHING until these rooks actually hit the field, so its pointless to grade. But as far as I can see, the patriots didn't address any of their immediate needs in this draft, we beat them last year because they had no one to stretch the field vertically, they could not manufacture a pass rush to get sanchez, their d line was soft minus wilfork and we were able to punch them in the gut and control the line of scrimmage all day, none of their immediate needs were addressed besides getting 2 non premier backs. If they got Ingram i would be worried about their offense, but not with the two guys they got.

[Bugg]

Look at this rush to judgemet:

The Sporting News just graded the 2011 draft as follows.

New England Patriots A+

New York Jets D

And thats only if whats his name is able to hire a good enough lawyer to keep him from serving 20 years in prison.

I have no idea. But I look at Mallett and see Todd Marinovich. Ellis is a calculated risk; Mallett is a scratch lottery ticket. I want to understand-Troy Mallett or those around him think John Daly is a moderating positive influence. Bellichick is smart. But when you hear that genius stuff so often it probably becomes intoxicating.

He is becoming like Parcells, so sure of himself that he takes crazy chances to show everyone what a genius he is.

[KSJets]

What could possibly go wrong in NYC?

Your crackhead new QB says hi

[jack48]

Why does the national media still so love the Patriots? Listening to the draft yesterday, they talk about Belichick like he a GOD and no one should even be mentioned in the same breath. They have not won the SB since 2004. And that is with NFL officals being told to never call them for offensive holding.

That is so true. Supposedly there is holding on every pass play. I never see them get called against the jets

[CoachTsurfing]

By definition, can an isolated incident be repeated?

of course it can, however i think with rex and looking at the fact some dude came at him with a bat, he probably won't go to jail.

[serphnx]

Why does the national media still so love the Patriots? Listening to the draft yesterday, they talk about Belichick like he a GOD and no one should even be mentioned in the same breath. They have not won the SB since 2004. And that is with NFL officals being told to never call them for offensive holding.

I wonder about that myself. They used to LOVE the Colts before then, and they still kinda like them, but pretty much the year before they won the SB they kinda quit liking them as much.

I think now they might start propping up the Packers (again).

[JetsFanInDenver]

Cimini called Ellis a druggie in his tweet.

And then Cannizzaro comes up with a balanced article with actual sources.

[nodimwithere]

These sites and papers that grade drafts this early are ridiculous. I remember the praise people had for the panthers getting a steal in clausen, or how people were saying Gholston was going to lead the jets in tackles in his first year. No one knows ANYTHING until these rooks actually hit the field, so its pointless to grade. But as far as I can see, the patriots didn't address any of their immediate needs in this draft, we beat them last year because they had no one to stretch the field vertically, they could not manufacture a pass rush to get sanchez, their d line was soft minus wilfork and we were able to punch them in the gut and control the line of scrimmage all day, none of their immediate needs were addressed besides getting 2 non premier backs. If they got Ingram i would be worried about their offense, but not with the two guys they got.

Exactly! It will take a couple of seasons to judge the effectiveness of a draft. The experts are just doing what they are paid to do, but they are only rendering an educated guess, nothing more.

It would be fun if, after about 2 seasons,the experts would go back and re-judge each's team's draft, and put that up against what they had said right afterwards. I would bet, most times, the two would bear no resemblance to each other.

[Klecko73isGod]

Cimini called Ellis a druggie in his tweet.

And then Cannizzaro comes up with a balanced article with actual sources.

Cimini is a cocksucker.

[PatriotReign37]

Your crackhead new QB says hi

Dont make me go all Scotty McNight on you.

[DMaynard]

Cimini is a cocksucker.

Now that, is a fair and balanced assessment.

[bitonti]

just as we shouldn't rush to judge Ellis, we also shouldn't rush to annoint him as totally awesome. taking the character stuff out of it for a second, we are talking about a player with 2 sacks at Hampton last year, both in the same game, at Howard.

Vlad Ducasse came from a similar small school background, and couldn't get active, even tho the team basically gave him a chance to start.

we should expect similar development time for Ellis. the jump from facing Howard to facing the Dallas Cowboys is huge.

if this player can get to 2nd team NT on the depth chart and not get into trouble it will be a good year. Chances are good he will be game day inactive for many weeks.

[hoping4ASuperBowl]

just as we shouldn't rush to judge Ellis, we also shouldn't rush to annoint him as totally awesome. taking the character stuff out of it for a second, we are talking about a player with 2 sacks at Hampton last year, both in the same game, at Howard.

Vlad Ducasse came from a similar small school background, and couldn't get active, even tho the team basically gave him a chance to start.

we should expect similar development time for Ellis. the jump from facing Howard to facing the Dallas Cowboys is huge.

if this player can get to 2nd team NT on the depth chart and not get into trouble it will be a good year. Chances are good he will be game day inactive for many weeks.

I don't think they need him to contribute right away. Even though Pouha is 32, he has very little wear on his tires, so they can bring Ellis along slowly. It's similar to Ducasse's situation. They opened him up to the competition at LG, but Slauson had the edge, and has performed pretty well, so the FO wasn't pressed to throw Ducasse into the fire like they did with Sanchez. We'll have to see how they develop.

[slats]

Vlad Ducasse came from a similar small school background, and couldn't get active, even tho the team basically gave him a chance to start.

we should expect similar development time for Ellis. the jump from facing Howard to facing the Dallas Cowboys is huge.

I hope not, and I would not make this comparison.

Defense is reactionary, offense needs to be more in sync. Plus, Ducasse only started playing football when he came to the US. He really knew nothing about the game before. His development should be expected to take longer due to both the position he plays, and his previous experience.

I want to see Ellis at least in the rotation at NT out of the gate. I like Pouha, but I think the team would love to see him moved out to DE. He's done well, but he's not a true NT like Ellis should be. I'll be very disappointed if he registers any games where he doesn't dress this year.

But this is another reason the lockout needs to end ASAP for the Jets. They're banking quite a bit on two 300+ lb rookies, and those types of guys usually aren't self-starters. They need to be in a formal weight training program.

[JiFtheOracle]

just as we shouldn't rush to judge Ellis, we also shouldn't rush to annoint him as totally awesome. taking the character stuff out of it for a second, we are talking about a player with 2 sacks at Hampton last year, both in the same game, at Howard.

Vlad Ducasse came from a similar small school background, and couldn't get active, even tho the team basically gave him a chance to start.

we should expect similar development time for Ellis. the jump from facing Howard to facing the Dallas Cowboys is huge.

if this player can get to 2nd team NT on the depth chart and not get into trouble it will be a good year. Chances are good he will be game day inactive for many weeks.

I disagree. He's a clogger...thats it. We didnt draft him to rush the passer. He's going to be asked to go in there and occupy space, hopefully demand a double team. I dont think the size of school you played at matters when that is your role. There's isnt a better Dline coach in the league than Rex Ryan. He'll have both Wilkerson and Ellis ready to have impact roles their rookies seasons, I'm extremely confident in that.

And comparing him to Vlad isnt a fair comparison at all, besides being born on an Island in the Caribbean. Ellis has all pro talent, with baggage. Vlad is as raw as it comes. Ellis was a 4 start recruit who had scholarship offers from big schools like Michigan and Michigan State. And he ended up with an SEC program where he did get to see some action. Vlad didnt get any BCS looks coming out of High School and wasnt even a ranked prospect.

[Bugg]

just as we shouldn't rush to judge Ellis, we also shouldn't rush to annoint him as totally awesome. taking the character stuff out of it for a second, we are talking about a player with 2 sacks at Hampton last year, both in the same game, at Howard.

Vlad Ducasse came from a similar small school background, and couldn't get active, even tho the team basically gave him a chance to start.

we should expect similar development time for Ellis. the jump from facing Howard to facing the Dallas Cowboys is huge.

if this player can get to 2nd team NT on the depth chart and not get into trouble it will be a good year. Chances are good he will be game day inactive for many weeks.

Ducasse was really a small college guy. Ellis was an SEC guy who got bounced for stupidity. If he was still a South Carolina guy you would expect him to be in the rotation.

[bitonti]

I don't understand why everyone thinks Ducasse is a worst case scenario. He redshirted year 1 and is being handed a starting role for year 2. that's pretty good relative to other draft picks.

if Kenrick Ellis has that same path it will be a good pick. I think that's the most we can expect. The least we can expect is he gets arrested again or some other tragedy. but I don't think he's gonna be an instant starter or impact player. That's possible but unlikely.

And yes there are differences between these two guys it is not an exact comparison. Ducasse for example was at the Senior Bowl playing against other 1st, 2nd round players. Ellis was at the NFLPA game playing against scrubs who went undrafted.

[slats]

I don't understand why everyone thinks Ducasse is a worst case scenario. He redshirted year 1 and is being handed a starting role for year 2. that's pretty good relative to other draft picks.

if Kenrick Ellis has that same path it will be a good pick. I think that's the most we can expect. The least we can expect is he gets arrested again or some other tragedy. but I don't think he's gonna be an instant starter or impact player. That's possible but unlikely.

And yes there are differences between these two guys it is not an exact comparison. Ducasse for example was at the Senior Bowl playing against other 1st, 2nd round players. Ellis was at the NFLPA game playing against scrubs who went undrafted.

Bit, you enigmatic contrarian. There is no doubt in mind that if the board was pissed about the Ellis pick that you'd be telling us he's the next Bowling Ball w/Butcher Knives - only a real one.

I stand by my future disappointment if this guy's not a serious rotation player as a rookie.

[bitonti]

Bit, you enigmatic contrarian. There is no doubt in mind that if the board was pissed about the Ellis pick that you'd be telling us he's the next Bowling Ball w/Butcher Knives - only a real one.

I stand by my future disappointment if this guy's not a serious rotation player as a rookie.

I've said it in every post i like the pick... i just think he's got alot to learn... not just about being a pro football player but about being an adult human being. He will be active against teams that run alot but he will be on the bench or inactive against passing teams. there's a comment in another thread that Ellis will be a "better Darnell Dockett" so we are saying pro bowl or bust?

JMO... i could be wrong and he's reggie white from day 1. wouldn't that be nice.

[SenorGato]

That better Darnell Dockett thing was dumb. I know because I wrote it. He's got at least 25 pounds on Dockett if not more. I'm not even sure what I was thinking with that except "underrated" and "badass."

Oh...actually I remember why...Dockett was a first round talent who fell to the 3rd for one reason or another...even then I might as well have said Justin Tuck then.

What're the thoughts here on Ellis playing DE on Rex's DL? I notice there's little talk of it, but the last tall, 345 pound "true" NT Rex drafted is STILL playing DE in the Ravens' 3-4. I'd much rather see Ellis at DE than Pouha.

[JiFtheOracle]

That better Darnell Dockett thing was dumb. I know because I wrote it. He's got at least 25 pounds on Dockett if not more. I'm not even sure what I was thinking with that except "underrated" and "badass."

Oh...actually I remember why...Dockett was a first round talent who fell to the 3rd for one reason or another...even then I might as well have said Justin Tuck then.

What're the thoughts here on Ellis playing DE on Rex's DL? I notice there's little talk of it, but the last tall, 345 pound "true" NT Rex drafted is STILL playing DE in the Ravens' 3-4. I'd much rather see Ellis at DE than Pouha.

I'd expect Ellis to get looks at NT, DT, and DE...as well as Wilkerson. That what is exciting about these picks, they are versatile and Rex can teach them the proper technique to play any position on the line.

[bitonti]

I'd expect Ellis to get looks at NT, DT, and DE...as well as Wilkerson. That what is exciting about these picks, they are versatile and Rex can teach them the proper technique to play any position on the line.

+1 Ellis has the raw skills to play DE. but it will be a process. The dude is used to facing guards and centers, it's another step up to face tackles. Baby steps with Kenrick Ellis, he will get there... probably not in year 1. Wilkerson we can expect will be facing tackles from the get go.

[Jetsfan80]

By definition, can an isolated incident be repeated?

Well, I suppose pot use and hitting a dude in the face are "isolated" insofar as they are not at all the same. Hater.

[slats]

Well, I suppose pot use and hitting a dude in the face are "isolated" insofar as they are not at all the same. Hater.

Do they drug test at Hampton? Because he managed three years there without a marijuana-related incident. That would seem to be a good sign.

I'm also encouraged that his assault charge was defending his girl, rather than beating the crap out of her. That seems rare in modern sports, too.

[Jetsfan80]

Do they drug test at Hampton? Because he managed three years there without a marijuana-related incident. That would seem to be a good sign.

I'm also encouraged that his assault charge was defending his girl, rather than beating the crap out of her. That seems rare in modern sports, too.

Agreed. I think this guy will be a saint in a Jets uniform, and will wreak havoc on opposing offenses too.