Amaro Makes Sports Illustrated's All Rookie Team

Jace Amaro has been named to Sports Illustrated's NFL All Rookie Team.    Amaro is the Jets' sole representative on the All Rookie squad.

Rookie tight ends often have trouble adjusting to the NFL, and this year was no exception.  Amaro leads all rookie tight ends with a mere 311 yards on 35 receptions. Eric Ebron, Austin Seferian-Jenkins and Richard Rodgers are the only other rookie tight ends to surpass 10 catches or 100 yards.

Amaro started the season slowly, then by Game 3 he became an integral part of the offense, before all but disappearing in the second half of the year.  At the halfway mark of the season Amaro had already amassed 32 receptions for 285 yards and a touchdown, apparently on his way to one of the best rookie seasons for a tight end in recent memory.  Then the Jets acquired Percy Harvin, Amaro ran into some injury problems, and the tight ends all but disappeared from the Jets' offense.  Over the last seven games Amaro has only three receptions for 26 yards.

The early returns on Amaro, before injuries and Harvin happened, were very promising, and it appears the Jets have a pretty good chance of having found their best tight end since the days of Mickey Schuler a quarter century ago.

In a season drenched with disappointment it might seem to be just one more nail in the coffin that the Jets only managed a single representative on the All Rookie team.   However, Amaro actually represents perhaps the sole area where the Jets have any semblance of bragging rights this season.  No other AFC East team placed a single player on the squad.