Jets rookie safety Pryor: ‘I’m going to talk trash’

Jets safety Calvin Pryor doesn't mind having a chat. (USATSI)

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I suppose we can call Jets first-round safety Calvin Pryor the anti-Johnny Manziel.

That's because unlike Manziel -- who seems to have been sufficiently humbled by Browns management -- Pryor, the No. 18 overall pick, said he's going to continue talking trash to his opponents. He's a rookie, but he's not interested in being muzzled. In fact, he wants to yap so much that he doesn't wear a mouthpiece on the field.

“With me being a rookie, that doesn't mean anything,” Pryor said, via the NY Daily News. “I am who I am. I'm going to talk trash, I'm going to be myself, and people who don't like me just going to have to get used to it.”

Pryor, then, was asked about the possibility of covering some of the top receivers in the game. Would he still gab at some of the most-respected figures in the NFL, like a Larry Fitzgerald or an Andre Johnson, for instance?

“[They're] human, right?” Pryor said. “I have no problem at all. We're all football players.”

That seems to be fine with coach Rex Ryan, who doesn't mind crowing about his team when the time is right. Ryan, as we know in the past, has been humbled in the past year or two because his team wasn't quite as good as he thought it could be. But it sounds like he's on board with Pryor.

“A guy can be a big hitter, but if you don't have instincts or you don't have awareness, a lot of times it's wasted,” Ryan said. “This guy, he sees it ... There's going to be a lot of jerseys with Pryor's name on the back because I have a funny feeling he's going to become one of the more popular Jets."

Or, at least, one of the most talkative.

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Jets rookie TE Jace Amaro wants to be the next Tony Gonzalez



Now that Tony Gonzalez has retired, who can lay claim to the title of "The next Tony Gonzalez"? Well, that question might disappear in a handful of years when we'll all be asking "Who will be the next Jimmy Graham?" Plus, we have Vernon Davis, Julius Thomas, Jordan Cameron ... a tall, athletic, pass-catching tight end isn't as novel as it was 15 years ago.One of the league's newest tight ends to fit that mold is Jets second-round rookie Jace Amaro. The Texas Tech product set a Football Bowl Subdivision record among tight ends last year with 1,352 receiving yards. He is 6-foot-5, 265 pounds and has decent 4.72-40 speed. He is strong and, yes, athletic as he lined up in the slot often in college. So of course he wants to be the next Tony Gonzalez."I'd definitely like to (model) his game," Amaro said of Gonzalez to ESPN New York. "... That's someone who I'd ultimately love to be. He's supposedly the greatest tight end to ever play. That's somewhere where I want to be, too."Amaro caught 106 passes last year in the Red Raiders' up-tempo offense. He said catching 100 passes consistently in the NFL is one of his goals even if it takes him five or 10 years to fulfill it. Gonzalez topped 100 receptions just once in his long career, but he reached 90 or more five times.



A tight end has caught 100 passes in a season only three times in league history, so Amaro should probably modify his goal just a bit.My expectations for Amaro as a rookie aren't nearly as high. He'll need to spend a lot of time working on his blocking skills as the Jets should deploy a run-first offense. Amaro will definitely have an opportunity to carve out a role as an offensive producer since the Jets don't have an abundant amount of great receivers, and that's even more true at tight end where the lumbering Jeff Cumberland is their top veteran.But look at what those aforementioned current tight ends did as rookies. They are stars now, but their rookie seasons were learning experiences more than anything else. That's one of the reasons why Gonzalez was really special; he caught 76 passes for 849 yards and 11 touchdowns as a rookie in 1999. Amaro probably won't come close to those stats in 2014, but since the Jets can use all of the help they can get in the passing game, he'll probably have a couple of big games this year. His dynasty stock, however, should rise quickly.