Maybe the talent void isn’t the only reason the Jets are 3-11. Recently cut defensive back Josh Thomas suggested coaching is a problem with Gang Green also.
The journeyman defensive back, who drew headlines when he had his playbook — stored in a team-issued iPad — stolen from his rental car over the weekend while he was with the team in Tennessee, said he received limited coaching in his brief stay with the Jets.
“I feel like I wasn’t given the attention necessary as far as being engaged from the coach-to-player standpoint and knowing the things I need to work on,” the 25-year-old Thomas told reporters in Detroit on Thursday, a day after being picked up by the Lions. “It became where I was there as a player and wanting and desiring some feedback that wasn’t given. So sometimes I may have been standing there with a [deer-in-the-headlights] look in my eyes trying to figure out what I needed to do.”
Oddly, Thomas, a fifth-round pick of the Cowboys in 2011, noted the Jets told him he was let go because he didn’t communicate enough with his teammates. He said his time there was unlike his experience with other NFL teams, such as the Seahawks, Panthers and even his first day with the Lions. And it wasn’t just head coach Rex Ryan or secondary coach Tim McDonald — but the entire coaching staff that operated that way.
“So at the same time, just from the past experiences, every organization operates differently — so it could be the way that the Jets operate,” he said. “I just want to be great. I want to get better every day. I look forward to enhancing something about my game every day, and [the Jets] were just more independent there.”
Thomas was picked up by the Jets on Oct. 13 — five days after he was cut by the Seahawks — in the wake of starting cornerback Dee Milliner being placed on injured reserve with a torn right Achilles tendon. He was on the team’s 53-man roster for eight weeks and was active for three games, but appeared in just one with the Jets, a Nov. 2 loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City.
He noticed a stark difference with the Lions compared to the Jets. Thomas told ESPN he received feedback and instruction every time he came to the sidelines after a play on special teams.
“It was refreshing, like, ‘Thanks for coaching me,’ ” Thomas said.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman didn’t have much of a response to Thomas’ biting comments.
“I don’t have a thought either way,” Thurman said. “I wish him nothing but the best. If that’s how he feels, like I said, I wish him nothing but the best.”
As for why fellow retreads Marcus Williams and Phillip Adams got action over Thomas, Thurman said, “They were playing better.”
Not only did the Jets cut Thomas the day after his playbook was taken, but he also had to pay for his stolen iPad and charger. His passport was also taken. Now that he’s in a winning situation in Detroit, he doesn’t mind.
“At least it’s a tax writeoff,” Thomas said.