Current:Home > reviews'Don't poke' Aaron Rodgers, NFL cutdown day, Broadway recs and other 'Hard Knocks' lessons -FundTrack
'Don't poke' Aaron Rodgers, NFL cutdown day, Broadway recs and other 'Hard Knocks' lessons
View
Date:2025-04-13 12:57:11
Tuesday was the NFL's deadline for teams to trim rosters down to 53 players.
More than 1,000 NFL hopefuls were the recipients of bad news as many had their pro football dreams dashed on this cruel day.
On "Hard Knocks" with the New York Jets, a handful of roster bubble players stood out on the show over the past month. For some, NFL aspirations were dealt a significant setback on cutdown day. For others, the NFL journey might just be beginning.
- Jerome Kapp went undrafted out of Division II Kutztown and was signed by the Jets after a minicamp tryout. He was the longest of long shots to make the team's 53-player roster (he was a wide receiver wearing No. 31 for goodness' sake!). Kapp's Slim Shady performance in last week's episode was so stirring that Eminem himself was impressed. Kapp's fate was learned so soon after the Jets' preseason finale against the New York Giants — in which he played but did not have a reception — that it made Tuesday night's episode.
- Tanzel Smart, of "car-coochie board" fame, brought some defensive line experience to the fold, having played in 37 games (four starts) over five NFL seasons. However, it wasn't meant to be, as Smart suffered a shoulder injury in Saturday's preseason finale, had X-rays taken yet returned to the field. Smart was released Tuesday, when the world also learned that "I want to eat a car-coochie board" T-shirts — which Smart proudly wore while hosting fellow defensive players for dinner on "Hard Knocks" — are for sale. Perhaps people sending him "car-coochie" boards on Instagram will help brighten his day.
PLAY TO WIN $10K: USA TODAY's Pro Football Survivor Pool is free to enter. Sign up now!
- Wide receivers Jason Brownlee and Xavier Gipson met and became friends at the NFLPA Collegiate Bowl. By coincidence, Brownlee — who played at Southern Mississippi — and Gipson — who played at Stephen F. Austin — were both signed by the Jets as undrafted free agents when each was not selected in the 2023 NFL draft. Both had impressive camps — Brownlee had a highlight-reel catch, Gipson was described as having "quiet feet" — and both put forth a showcase to stick with the team in the preseason finale (Gipson had seven catches for 79 yards, Brownlee had two for 25 yards). In a receiver room crowded with Aaron Rodgers' Green Bay pals, it's amazing that Brownlee and Gipson each made the 53-player roster.
HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 1: 'The Aaron Rodgers Show' and a fourth wall break
HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 2: Offense has issues, Quinnen Williams wreaks havoc
HARD KNOCKS EPISODE 3: Aaron Rodgers has high praise for new teammate
'LET'S GO EAT A SNACK!' 18 most memorable 'Hard Knocks' moments
Here is more of what we learned during the fourth episode of "'Hard Knocks: Training Camp with the New York Jets":
Randall Cobb, Aaron Rodgers joke about brutal blindside hit
Cobb is entering his 13th NFL season — 11th with Rodgers as his quarterback — and saw his first preseason action Saturday.
Like a lot of regulars who've sat out previous exhibition games, there was enthusiasm to be back on the field in a competitive environment. In Cobb's case, too much enthusiasm.
On a Rodgers pass to tight end Tyler Conklin, Cobb delivered a diabolical blindside block on Giants safety Bobby McCain. It rendered a 15-yard personal foul penalty. Cobb then heard it from Rodgers in the huddle.
"Cobb … he lost all his training camp money," Rodgers said in the huddle. "What are you doing, bro? This ain't 2014."
"I forgot. I blacked out. I blacked out, all right?" Cobb said. "I ain't been able to hit nobody in awhile."
Nathaniel Hackett admits to owning a Flowbee
When the topic of male grooming came up during a quarterbacks meeting, Hackett volunteered some information.
He owns a Flowbee.
"One of the greatest inventions ever," said Hackett, the Jets offensive coordinator. "Is there anything better than a Flowbee?"
Let's just say that there's been a lot of filler on this season of "Hard Knocks."
Giants and Jets will play again … will it be saucy?
The Jets defeated the Giants, 32-24, in the preseason finale Saturday. There was some feistiness.
Giants linebacker Jihad Ward gave Rodgers a late shove and the two exchange unpleasant words.
"Don't poke the bear," Rodgers told Ward after a touchdown pass to Garrett Wilson.
The Giants dared to throw deep twice against Jets cornerback Sauce Gardner, who did not appreciate the perceived disrespect, yelling, "What are you doing?"
Late in the game, and again after the game while in the tunnel on the way to the locker room, Rodgers called MetLife Stadium, "JetLife Stadium."
The Jets and Giants will play for real on Oct. 29 during Week 7.
Jets rave about 'Back to the Future' musical
Being in New York, Jets players have access to all that Broadway has to offer — "Shucked," "Hamilton," "The Book of Mormon," "& Juliet" "The Lion King," "Back to the Future."
The reviews are in, and players rate "Back to the Future" a must-see:
Defensive end Solomon Thomas opines that "'Back to the Future' was really good ... I highly recommend 'Back to the Future.' I was surprised. I want to see it again."
Rodgers called it "a must-watch."
Tight end C.J. Uzomah raves "that (expletive) was incredible. OK, that was unbelievable."
veryGood! (24)
Related
- SFO's new sensory room helps neurodivergent travelers fight flying jitters
- Horoscopes Today, September 24, 2024
- Wisconsin mayor carts away absentee ballot drop box, says he did nothing wrong
- NFL rookie rankings: Jayden Daniels or Malik Nabers for No. 1 of early 2024 breakdown?
- Buckingham Palace staff under investigation for 'bar brawl'
- Aaron Hernandez ‘American Sports Story’ series wants to show a different view of the disgraced NFLer
- Hurricanes keep pummeling one part of Florida. Residents are exhausted.
- Oklahoma Gov. Stitt returns to work after getting stent in blocked artery
- A White House order claims to end 'censorship.' What does that mean?
- One day along the Texas-Mexico border shows that realities shift more rapidly than rhetoric
Ranking
- Taylor Swift makes surprise visit to Kansas City children’s hospital
- Another Outer Banks home collapses into North Carolina ocean, the 3rd to fall since Friday
- Kenny G says Whitney Houston was 'amazing', recalls their shared history in memoir
- Abbott Elementary’s Season 4 Trailer Proves Laughter—and Ringworm—Is Contagious
- This was the average Social Security benefit in 2004, and here's what it is now
- Alabama police officers on leave following the fatal shooting of a 68-year-old man
- Wisconsin man charged in 1985 killing of college student whose body was decapitated
- Senate approves criminal contempt resolution against Steward Health Care CEO
Recommendation
Charges tied to China weigh on GM in Q4, but profit and revenue top expectations
Boy Meets World’s Maitland Ward Shares How Costar Ben Savage Reacted to Her Porn Career
Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story Stars React to Erik Menendez’s Criticism
Johnny Depp calls Amber Heard defamation trial 'a soap opera' while promoting new film
Meet first time Grammy nominee Charley Crockett
50 Cent Producing Netflix Docuseries on Diddy's Sex Trafficking, Racketeering Charges
One day along the Texas-Mexico border shows that realities shift more rapidly than rhetoric
'Rather than advising them, she was abusing them': LA school counselor accused of sex crime