According to Dave Hutchinson of the Star Ledger, starting DE Shaun Ellis is expected to be suspended for his marijuana offense last fall week one against Houston.
This suspension would leave the Jets two starters short heading into week one against one of the top offenses in the NFL, with both OLB Calvin Pace and Ellis gone. DE Mike DeVito would likely be the replacement.
Certainly, this is not good news for the Jets. Ellis is the Jets best pass rushing DE, and DeVito is largely unproven in a starting role. And if he's going to be thrown into the fire, facing Andre Johnson, Steve Slaton, Owen Daniels, Kevin Walter, Matt Schaub, and the Houston Texans is not the ideal time.
Slaton has to be licking his chops to see a Jets defense without two of their better run stoppers in their lineup. Kris Jenkins, David Harris, and Bart Scott better be ready, otherwise this could be an 0-1 beginning for the green and white. The defense is deep enough in terms of talent in the starting lineup to withstand two starters gone, as long as Jenkins and Revis are still there. Any more gone is definitely pushing it though, and it will not help build chemistry of a brand new defense.
Now time for a few other assorted updates...
*Nick Mangold, Darrelle Revis, Donald Strickland, and Kris Jenkins are all being held out of practice. Mangold hurt his right knee, but he should be back soon. As is usually the case with the Jets' Pro Bowl center, the injury is not serious. Revis has a hamstring injury which should be fine in a couple of days. Jenkins's calf injury should be healed fairly soon.
*The quarterback battle was starting to swing in the rookie Mark Sanchez's favor. He outperformed Kellen Clemens in a scrimmage, even though the real winner was the defense. As a result, Sanchez started getting more reps with the first team offense. On Saturday, he went 10-19 with the first team offense, but Sunday he was 1-6 and struggled. Clemens gets the start on Friday against St. Louis in the first preseason game of the season, and he likely needs a big performance to distance himself from Sanchez. The fourth-year quarterback needs something, anything, to show the Jets that he deserves to be the guy.
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