Patience Needed With Jets Tight End Jace Amaro

I can't help but notice a distinct interest in Jace Amaro this off-season, and if my Twitter mentions are anything to go by, Jets fans are craving an update.

Amaro experienced a promising if underwhelming rookie season in 2014, catching 38 passes for 345 yards and 2 touchdowns. The Jets were obviously a very poor team in 2014, and considering the lack of receiving options, his performance was absolutely fine.

There was notable excitement around Jace heading into 2015. With Brandon Marshall in the fold, a healthy Eric Decker and a rejuvenated Ryan Fitzpatrick, many believed that a pass-catching TE like Jace would thrive. Unfortunately for him and the Jets, he was lost for the season after landing very awkwardly in the Jets first pre-season game against the Lions.

The prognosis was a torn labrum, a bad shoulder injury that required surgery. Jace worked his tail off to rehab and be ready for 2016, but already I see fans getting impatient with the lack of news on Jace. Quite simply, there isn't any news for Jace because he's still working his way back. He hasn't been a feature during the first two sessions, and I haven't seen any reports of him catching a pass in team activities.

However, there is no need to panic.

Yesterday we spoke about Ryan Fitzpatrick's need to shake off the rust after not playing football during his contract dispute. Well Jace hasn't played a meaningful snap in nearly a year, it'll take him some time to get his conditioning down, get his timing down and start to produce.

Amaro will be given every opportunity to show why Bowles needs to be giving him snaps during the season. However there are plenty of TE's in camp, and limited snaps to go around. Bostick, Davis, Saxton, Sudfeld and a UDFA by the name of Jason Vander Laan are all fighting for reps this Summer.

We saw how much Todd Bowles valued the big body receiver last year with the way he utilised the likes of Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker and Quincy Enunwa, with Amaro standing at 6'5 and 265lb's, I have all the faith in the world that Todd can get him playing like he did in college.

Remember, this is a guy who recorded 106 receptions for 1352 yards and 7 touchdowns in his final year at Texas Tech, the talent is there, we just need to find a way to get it to show. It's still very early in camp, there is no reason to worry about the lack of Jace Amaro news just yet.

The hope is that Jace forces his way into the lineup to complement one of the best receiving tandems in the NFL in Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker. With Matt Forte's receiving ability drawing plenty of linebacker interest, there should be plenty of space down the middle of the field for him to work in.