Jets WR2 is Keelan Cole’s Job to Lose

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As you remember, back in the beginning of June when OTAs were underway, I wrote an article titled “Is Keelan Cole the Jets WR2?”. If you missed it, you can view it here. The article was prompted by seeing Denzel Mims continue to run with the 2’s once healthy in OTA’s, as well as identical reports from different respected beat reporters, and the continued presence of Keelan Cole with the starters despite anything. Well this continued through minicamp, and now has continued once the pads went on in training camp.

I believe this is a good juncture to point out that this in no way is a bad reflection on Denzel Mims. As I have pointed out many times on Twitter and my podcast, competition is a good thing. For so long we have watched though bad GMs who couldn’t draft or cultivate talent provide us yearly with players who were no where near up to snuff. Hoping someone will step up and be the guy we desperately need. Well now, through Joe Douglas, we have a very talented team where talented players are vying for the same positions. Denzel Mims has a ton of potential. I liked the pick last year a lot, pointed out he was supposed to be a 1st round pick in 2020, was hurt his rookie year, and could still even develop into a true WR1. But Cole is the veteran and also very talented.

As you saw in my previous Cole article, I provided film as well to show how talented he is. Cole has made some spectacular catches over the years, as well showed how he is the better scheme fit and route runner as pointed out by beat reporters. Also shown in that first article was the biggest argument against this I had in my head:

Well Douglas just drafted Mims last year and high. Not only does he believe in him, he is his guy.

Well, I pointed out in that article how Connor Hughes had dropped a bombshell of news nonchalantly that Joe Douglas had been trying to acquire Keelan Cole from the Jaguars for the past two years, but the Jaguars knew how good he was and wouldn’t part with him. Well Joe Douglas has only been with the Jets for two years, so for his entire tenure here he has been trying to trade for Keelan Cole. Clearly, he is much “Joe Douglas’ guy” as Denzel Mims is.

Now as we said, without fail, throughout OTAs, minicamp, and now throughout training camp, Keelan Cole has always ran with the starters. Well yesterday, the New York Jets released their first unofficial depth chart of the season. You can see it here. On it, Keelan Cole is listed with the starters. That is proof enough that Keelan Cole is the New York Jets WR2 as of now, but that’s not all. There’s this:

And what it means:

So as you can see, todays press conference from Robert Saleh confirmed some very important news. As we saw in the depth chart, Corey Davis is WR1 (which is a given), but Keelan Cole is listed as starting WR2, and Jamison Crowder as starting slot WR. Also, since training camp started all the beat writers have been constantly asking Robert Saleh about when one guy now runs with the 1’s or is now with the 2’s, etc. Every time Saleh always reiterated the first sentence, this this is a rotation, which makes a lot of sense. How else do you see if the other guys have it or maybe if one of them is even better than whoever is ahead of him? That next sentence though, “The only players who roll w/ the 1’s unconditionally are Corey Davis, Keelan Cole, & Jamison Crowder.” That says it all.

Even though this article isn’t about Crowder, quickly I will point out that Crowder listed as primary slot WR doesn’t mean Moore won’t play a lot. It doesn’t even mean more Moore won’t be a starter. We’ve all joked about how stubborn and narcissistic our past HC was, unwilling to change something that wasn’t working or scheme to his players strengths. Well the Mike LaFleur offense is done right.

Jamison Crowder has been the New York Jets best wide receiver the past two years, and he has also been one of the best slot wide receivers in the NFL every season. I remember how foolish I felt it was when people were talking about cutting him cause of his money when he was so good still or that we should get Curtis Samuel over him (I still think Crowder is better than Samuel). Crowder should play, but so should Moore. So many are debating who will play. I think the answer is both. Like LaFleur said above, you scheme to your strengths. You have wide receivers like this, all four should be on the field at the same time. Stop that NFL defenses!

But the fact of the matter is, Keelan Cole is the Jets WR2. He could lose that job to Mims or even Moore, but it is his job to lose.

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