Jets' Jermaine Johnson already has Game 1 face on
Jets edge-rusher Jermaine Johnson practices in Florham Park, N.J., on June 11. Credit: Ed Murray
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Aaron Glenn is trying very hard to keep the Jets in the moment. That means practices this week have become extensions of training camp even though the opening game is just a little more than a week away. Tucked away in their offices the coaching staff is obviously getting a jump on preparing for the Steelers and the rest of the schedule — they have been since the spring — but Glenn isn’t formally introducing that element to the players just yet.
There will be time for all of that.
Jermaine Johnson, though, isn’t going by that calendar.
Ever since he came off the PUP list earlier this month the edge-rushing linebacker who is returning from a torn Achilles has been playing each snap with the urgency, energy and enthusiasm of opening day. In the coming days, as the players disperse for the weekend then return to the business of preparation, many of them will go through the process of putting themselves up into game mode. Their focuses will intensify, their moods will become no-nonsense, and their eyes will start to sharpen.
Johnson is already there. Has been for a few weeks now.
“Pace myself?” he scoffed when asked on Wednesday about the prescribed trajectory between now and Sept. 7. “No . . . I’m looking to dominate and remind the NFL that I’m here.”
Does he think they’ve forgotten him? It can feel that way when someone is away rehabbing an injury for as long as it took Johnson to return from his, which he suffered in Week 2 last season. But Johnson’s answer to that question illustrated his attitude about this comeback.
“I don’t give a damn what they forgot about,” he said. “I didn’t forget about myself and God definitely didn’t. I’m just going out there and playing my brand of football.”
Glenn has noticed how amped up Johnson is for the season to begin, how ahead of everyone else he is in that regard.
“It’s hard not to with that player,” he said.
And yes, the coach will allow it.
“You want players that you have to pull the reins back on instead of telling them, ‘Let’s giddy-up,’ ” Glenn said. “He’s been excited to get out there and get ready to go. When you have a guy like that, that you have this season-ending injury, it kind of puts things into perspective of, man, just how quick this game can be gone, like instantly. So, with his personality, and knowing he was out for a year, it’s a no-brainer he’s going to be ready to come back.”
Johnson said he feels “great.” It’s hard to imagine he feels much better than he has looked while dominating practices, blowing past offensive tackles like an Acela going through local stations.
Glenn saw play like that from Johnson as far back as the Senior Bowl in 2022 when Johnson was a standout from Florida State and Glenn was the defensive coordinator for the Lions.
“Very violent,” Glenn said of his initial reaction to Johnson. “I love his size. I love his length. He wants to get after the quarterback. Like, he’s one that really wants to get after the quarterback. But not just that, he wants to make sure he’s doing a hell of a job when it comes to stopping the run also. Usually when you have a guy of that nature, either they’re run stoppers or they’re pass rushers, and he has a combination of both. That stood out to me when I first saw this guy, and then the mentality of how he’s wired, that really stood out.”
Johnson was just starting to play with that kind of ferocity last season when he was injured. He expects to return to it quickly.
“It’s going to mean a lot,” he said of being on the field Sept. 7. “It took a lot of effort, hard work, determination, faith to stay the course and trust that I would return to form. It’s going to mean a lot with everything coming full circle and it’ll mean even more that I’ll be able to be there for my teammates . . . I just can’t wait to be everything I need to be for this team, be that pillar that they can lean on, and be able to deliver for them.”
A year ago, the Jets were relying on a key player to return from an Achilles injury, too. This year it’s Johnson in that role, and the fact he could make his immediate impact felt by sacking that previous returnee in the opener is not lost upon him.
He grinned when asked about wanting to bring down Aaron Rodgers, his former teammate, and now the starting quarterback for the Steelers.
“I’ve been visualizing sacking whoever was going to be our first opponent, to be honest,” he said with lawyerly verbal agility.
He’d already broken one of Glenn’s rules about looking ahead to Week 1 and gotten away with it. Busting through the unspoken gag order on all things pertaining to Rodgers was not an infraction he was willing to make. Not now, anyway.
For that he can wait with everyone else until Game One.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
