Confirmed: Jim Leonhard Out for the Season

by John B on Dec 11, 2011 5:33 PM EST

Manish Mehta confirms the Jets have lost starting safety Jim Leonhard for the season.

Jim Leonhard will undergo an MRI tomorrow on his right knee. It may not be his ACL,but he will miss the rest of the season, per sources #nyj

You just have to feel awful for Jim that his season ends with a devastating injury and likely a long and painful rehab for the second consecutive season. He will now be hitting free agency recovering from a second consecutive such injury.

This means those of us who wanted Brodney Pool to start will likely get our wish. We just will not get it the way we wanted. Pool will take over as free safety, where he was adequate last year, not strong safety, where he was dynamic. Eric Smith could probably not handle the coverage responsibilities of free safety. Smith's starting job is now probably secure as well.

Just as tough is losing Leonhard on punt returns. The Jets have tried a lot of guys back there, and Leonhard looked like the only guy with sure hands back there. Returning punts is a difficult thing to do. It is not easy for a rookie like Jeremy Kerley to both make a catch and read his blocks at the same time.

It's funny. A year ago I felt like people were pehaps overrating Leonhard's influnce. Now I feel like we have gone to the opposite extreme and maybe people underrate what he means. Leonhard is a good player. He is not an elite level guy, but he makes a positive difference out there with a lot of the big plays he makes. I think the whole "quarterback of the defense" thing is a tad overrated considering some of the problems the Jets have shown lining up. He is also not the best guy in coverage, but he makes a big difference covering when guys blow their assignments. I thought his absence last year was most pronounced in the AFC Championship Game. He might have made a difference flying into running lanes to bail out defenders who overpursued as Rashard Mendenhall cut back.

I am not convinced this was a devastating blow for the defense like losing an elite level player like Darrelle Revis, David Harris, or even Sione Pouha would have been (some have made compelling arguments otherwise), but I am still not happy to see this.

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Eh, whatever.

I don’t like that he’s injured, but I’m not gonna miss him one bit. Brodney can cover, rather than Smitty. And Smitty can roam (which he actually isn’t terrible at), rather than Leonard. The impact will be minimal.

I don’t recall guys over running their lanes against Pitt. I recall guys not finishing tackles and letting Mendenhall out of their grasp when they shouldve tackled him for negative or minimal yardage. Don’t see how Jimmy was going to complete other guys’ tackles.

And I don’t recall Jimmy making many big plays at all. He picked off palko today… Woopdidoo.

Far as I’m concerned, Rex was forced to stop playing favorites and to field the best team… Again.

by Crackback on Dec 11, 2011 5:50 PM EST via mobile reply actions

Yeah,

but who is our Dwight Lowery, that can help out the other safeties ? He played a big part in success in playoffs last year too.

King Kong Ain't Got Shit On Me- Denzel Washington
I got the shotgun. You got the briefcase. It's all in the game though, right? - Omar Little

by PuffDaddy18 on Dec 11, 2011 6:46 PM EST up reply actions

+1

not having lowrey makes jim’s loss bigger this year

if its for you it won't pass you

by tinley24 on Dec 12, 2011 12:47 AM EST up reply actions

Actually.....

Jimmy is pretty important to the defense as he makes the db calls back there, one of the big plays he had was in the season opener when Witten was about to score a td to put away the Jets and he made the stop before the goaline. The very next play Romo fumbled it. No Jimmy, probably no win. Dont forget after we lost him before the patriots game last season, we went on to lose the game 47-3 and our db’s got torched. He’s undersized but a pretty good tackler for his size. We might miss him.

by jets880 on Dec 11, 2011 9:38 PM EST up reply actions

I don't know what it was exactly last year, perhaps schemes that favored coverage over blitz

But the pairing of Pool and Smith looked really good. I don’t want to see any player get hurt, but hopefully that secondary rallies off this injury.

by CervezaVerde on Dec 11, 2011 6:36 PM EST reply actions

This wouldnt be as bad if we hadnt traded Dwight Lowery

Oh yes that's right, I'm a Jets fan.

by Bob_The_Friendly_Baker on Dec 11, 2011 6:55 PM EST reply actions

Let's see if one of these guys like Isiah Trufant or Tracy Wilson or whoever is down there at the bottom of the roster can step up in a limited role

by CervezaVerde on Dec 11, 2011 6:59 PM EST up reply actions

Question

Isn’t Darren Sharper still a free agent?

"Show me a good loser and I'll show you an idiot."
Leo Durocher

by LiveLoveNYJets on Dec 11, 2011 7:30 PM EST reply actions

even the Pats didn't sign him

by MetalVagabond on Dec 11, 2011 7:38 PM EST up reply actions

we survived without him last year

hopefully someone will step up their game, we have big games against the Giants and Eagles with Vick back who makes them tough

by MetalVagabond on Dec 11, 2011 7:37 PM EST reply actions

Do we see a good TE, the last three games

If we did, I feel better, with Pool covering them. I read a lot that the safeties played the run poorly against Pittsburgh. My answer to that is I would like to know what game they were watching. Mendenhall never got to the third level of the defense. He got to the second level because the line had its worse game of the season. Missing tackles. In fact the safeties and ILBs stop Mendenhall from having bigger gains. Please stop it, the Jets will miss the midget, but only because it makes them thinner in the secondary.

by BIG OH!!!!! on Dec 11, 2011 7:48 PM EST reply actions

1st half safety tackles on Steeler runs

In fact the safeties and ILBs stop Mendenhall from having bigger gains.

Linebackers yes, safeties no.

1st Q
1st and 10 at NYJ 37 R.Mendenhall right tackle to NYJ 29 for 8 yards (D.Revis; E.Smith).
2nd and 10 at NYJ 23 R.Mendenhall right tackle to NYJ 25 for -2 yards (B.Pool).
1st and 10 at PIT 13 R.Mendenhall right guard to PIT 24 for 11 yards (B.Pool).

2nd Q
1st and 6 at NYJ 6 R.Mendenhall right guard to NYJ 5 for 1 yard (B.Scott, E.Smith).
1st and 10 at NYJ 41 R.Mendenhall up the middle to NYJ 34 for 7 yards (E.Smith, D.Revis).

Revis was actually the one doing most of the tackling from the secondary.

by ________key on Dec 11, 2011 8:02 PM EST up reply actions

Sucks

This stuff seems to always happen to the players that worked the hardest and give it everything they got. I feel sorry for him because he will be a FA next year. Add a safety to the Jets draft needs.

Where is Emmaneul Cook when you need him??

by chrebetsthebet on Dec 11, 2011 8:06 PM EST reply actions

If the playoffs started this week we would play the Pats.

The Pats have two uncoverable TEs. When they spread it out, please someone tell me who Eric “I play the run amazing” Smith is going to cover? Hernandez or Gronkowski? – lol

Like Belichick is going to not notice this?

by ________key on Dec 11, 2011 8:08 PM EST reply actions