Jets Looking Like a 4-3 Team

Cimini notes from Jets minicamp that the team is amping up its use of 4-3 fronts.

I think the 4-3 front will be a bigger part of the defense this season than people expect.Calvin Pace said they've used more 4-3 than in any previous offseason under Rex Ryan. They have the depth up front to use a four-man line, especially with the addition of No. 1Quinton Coples. That they don't have four healthy, proven linebackers also is a reason they're using so much 4-3.

The distinction is overblown. The Jets have always been a hybrid defense under Rex Ryan. They played a ton of 4-3 in 2009 after Kris Jenkins got hurt and extra beef was needed up front. The ratio has been about circumstances. The Jets took a player in the first round they think can be the difference making pass rusher they have lacked. His most natural position is as a 4-3 end. Will they move him around? I'm sure he will line up inside in the 4-3, as an end in a 3-4, and even stand up as a pass rusher at times. It seems, however, this defense will be very much built around Quinton Coples.

I hope this means we see plenty of Demario Davis also. Linebackers need to be faster in a 4-3. There are three of them instead of four in a 3-4 so they need to cover more ground. I wanted to see the Jets get faster at the position anyway so if this is an excuse to do so, all the better. A David Harris-Bart Scott-Bryan Thomas trio would be painfully slow.