By Dom Cosentino
The Jets added Eric Decker in free agency because, well, their leading receiver a year ago caught just one more pass than their new running back did with his previous team. The thinking was that even if Decker’s high productivity with the Broncos resulted from some kind of Peyton Manning Effect—and it most certainly did—Decker still figured to represent an improvement well-worth $15 million in guaranteed money.
The full impact of Decker’s arrival remains to be seen—as is true for everything about the 2014 Jets, considering it’s still June and all—but the credibility he brought with him from from Denver already counts for something in the wide receivers’ meeting room.
Don’t just take it from me. Take it from Sanjay Lal, the Jets’ wide receivers coach.
“In fact, I was showing one of the younger guys a clip, saying, ‘You should run the route like this,'” Lal said. “He didn’t quite realize who it was. And he said, ‘Oh, that’s Decker?’ We joked about it. I said, ‘Now you’re going to run it like that? Because you saw Decker do it?’ He was, like, ‘Yep.’ It was like, ‘OK.'”
Then there’s Decker’s attitude and approach. Basically, Lal said, he works well with others.
“If he’s a good guy and a genuine guy, it’s invaluable,” Lal said. “If he’s echoing what we’re coaching and he’s on the same page, it’s great, because it always means more coming from from a player than a coach.
“And he has so far. It’s a great tool to have, and then on top of that, he’s a productive player.”
Stephen Hill, now in his third season after two disappointing years, was one young wideout in particular who looked forward to working with Decker.
“He’s a big guy, and he can show me a lot of things I can put into my repertoire,” Hill said last month during the Jets’ first week of organized team activities.
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