Quinton Coples turned some heads during the Jets’ spring period. Jets coaches feel the second-year defensive lineman is ready for a much bigger role in 2013 than he had as a rookie.
“Quinton is starting to come,” defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman said earlier this month. “He’s starting to get it. Big, strong, naturally a powerful man, has some explosion and just the repetition of him hearing things over and over and now he’s getting the reps consistently and hey, you’re the guy. He now doesn’t have to look around and say well am I going to play?
“You’ve got to play and you have to play at a high level. Those things are important to him: one, I’m going to play and two, I’m being counted on to play and perform at a different level than what was expected of me a year ago. Last year I kind of got my feet wet. This year I have to dive in the pool headfirst and I’ve got to start swimming right away.”
Coples split time between defensive end and outside linebacker during the spring. It is going to be fascinating to see what coach Rex Ryan and Thurman dream up for Coples on defense. He is too big to be asked to drop into coverage consistently but the idea of him coming off the edge as a stand-up rusher is very intriguing.
“We’re pleased with what he’s done,” Thurman said. “He looks like from the beginning of OTAs up until now he’s probably one of two or three guys that have made the biggest strides. He’s starting to come. You watch him on tape and some of the coaches who weren’t here a year ago are going holy [cow] is he athletic because you’re starting to see it on a more consistent level and you’re starting to see him run to the ball and do some things that we knew he could do a year ago and we saw flashes of it a year ago but now you’re seeing them on a more consistent basis.”
Coples is going to be a key piece of the 2013 Jets defense.