By Darryl Slater | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
Which Jets offensive linemen surprised during OTAs and minicamp?
Now that the Jets have wrapped up their spring workouts (organized team activities and minicamp), and they're off for about six weeks until training camp, we can begin digesting what the team learned during the spring.
It's difficult (and somewhat foolish) to draw any sweeping conclusions off these no-pads spring workouts, but they are an opportunity for under-the-radar guys to impress.
And veteran right guard Willie Colon noticed a couple fellow offensive linemen who looked impressive this spring: reserves Dakota Dozier and Brent Qvale.
We'll get to Colon's specific thoughts on each player's skills in a bit. But the broader issue he raised while talking about Dozier and Qvale is just as interesting as his specific comments, if not more so.
Dozier was the Jets' fourth-round draft pick last year. He didn't play at all. Neither did Qvale, an undrafted free agent rookie who spent all year on the practice squad. They both basically redshirted, to use a collegiate term. They got a season to watch and learn.
"For me, it's good that they both started off kind of quiet [with not playing last year] and now you see them starting to blossom," Colon said recently at the NFL's broadcast boot camp. "That's how you make a lineman. You give him a chance to earn his stripes. You give him a chance to mature. You don't crush his confidence. You let him find his way, and these guys are finding their way."
This is an ideal path for an offensive lineman to develop, particularly a lineman drafted in the middle rounds. The Jets didn't have that luxury with rookie Brian Winters in 2013, after taking him in the third round.
He was thrust into the starting left guard role after Vladimir Ducasse failed. And Winters sputtered throughout the season. In retrospect, playing right away wasn't a good thing for Winters — just as it isn't for most young NFL offensive linemen.
The Jets drafted guard Jarvis Harrison in the fifth round this year, but they have enough guys in front of him that he won't have to play at all in 2015, unless a few guards get injured. The way Colon sees it, this could benefit Harrison, just as it benefited Dozier and Qvale.
"I was groomed," said Colon, a fourth-round pick by the Steelers in 2006 who didn't start until the final two games of his rookie year. "I didn't come out of the gate blazing. My first preseason start, I had six [mental errors]. It took [Steelers then-director of football operations] Kevin Colbert to slap me on the back, and he goes, 'Don't do that again.' It took the next game for me to get better, into the next game, until it's like, 'Here goes Willie Colon at tackle for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and he's a ballplayer.'
"I think when you break a young guy's confidence, you don't allow him to grow. Are there are some guys that have it [right away]? Sure. But you've got to invest in guys who have a high learning curve, who battle hard, who generally just come to work like professionals."
Colon hesitated to say that playing Winters right away damaged his progress.
"I think the thing with Brian, his upside is so high," Colon said. "He looked so great [in practice] and he was put out there amongst the wolves, and whether he was ready or not, you could never tell that until you put him out there."
This brings us back to Dozier and Qvale. Dozier, a college tackle who converted to guard last year, got some backup center reps this spring. Dozier could also be in the mix for the right guard competition, along with Colon, Winters and Oday Aboushi. Qvale, previously a tackle, got some starting right guard reps this spring, though it happened on an OTA day when Colon was absent because of the boot camp.
Don't read too much into this. The coaches like to get young guys some extra snaps in the spring. The training camp reps are what matter most. But Colon loved what he saw from Dozier and Qvale this spring.
"Honestly, I had this discussion with one of our coaches: I think that the most underrated two guys we have in our room are Brent Qvale and Dakota," Colon said. "Dakota coming into the spring, he was asked to step into the [backup] center role. He's answered the bell — from learning a new system, to learning a new position, to being able to be a swing guy [who can play guard and center].
"I think Qvale, he's as tough as it comes. I told him, 'Listen, don't stop kicking butt, no matter who you're going against.' He plays well. He's the most underrated guy we've got right now. If I could tip my hat off, I'd tip it off to those two guys.
"You never want to make the same mistake twice. If they make a mistake, you don't see it the next time they're on the field. So that lets you know their learning curve is high. It lets you know they're responsive to how they're being coached. Overall, they play hard. They're not out there getting thrown to the floor. Those guys get out there and play."
Dozier is now showing the ability to play guard and center, after being a college tackle. Qvale is apparently making the transition from college tackle to NFL guard in Year 2. For middle-round linemen — and, of course, undrafted guys like Qvale — such versatility is something "you want to see out of young guys," Colon said.
"The more you can do," Colon continued, "the more you have a chance to stay in the league."
