The Jets will begin their mandatory minicamp Tuesday as the team will take the field without both ILB David Harris and WR Eric Decker.
"It's a good opportunity for all of us young guys to kind of show what we can do. It's unfortunate we lost the people that we lost. They were great leaders," said WR Quincy Enunwa on a recent conference call with Jets season ticket holders. "But I think the people we have upstairs as well as the coaching staff — they all believe in us and we believe in ourselves. And that's one of the first things we need in order to have a good season. I'm excited to see what's going to happen and I think we may surprise a lot of people this year."
Released last Tuesday, Harris played 10 seasons for the Green & White and ranks No. 2 on the team's all-time tackles list with 1,260 career stops.
"He was a great leader in the locker room and on the field, but we have some young guys in that linebacking corps," said veteran DL Muhammad Wilkerson during the call. "We just brought back Demario Davis who was here and knows the system, so we have a bunch of guys in that linebacking corps that can make plays. They may not be big-name guys like Dave, but those guys can definitely step up and make plays."
Head coach Todd Bowles said Davis, reacquired from the Cleveland Browns in exchange for S Calvin Pryor, and veterans Bruce Carter and Julian Stanford all will be considered to fill Harris' Mike 'backer role. After attempting to facilitate a trade, the Green & White released Decker on Monday.
"I think we have a lot of guys that are really going to step up this year," Enunwa said. "I'm excited to see what they're going to do. I don't think it's a situation where I'm the No. 1 and I'm just the only guy out there that can perform. I think we have so many guys in our room right now that can perform and may outperform me. It's just up to us to go out there and do our job."
Expressing his confidence in John Morton's new offense that allows wideouts to run different routes and get the ball at different levels, Enunwa was asked about the QB competition underway between veteran Josh McCown and young signal callers Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.
"I'm comfortable with everybody out there. I think we have some competitors right now and that's huge at the quarterback position and each guy has a lot of talent," he said. "I think we're capable of accomplishing a lot of great things. I'm not looking to the future — I'm looking at the present right now. I can't control what's going to happen in the future. All I know is I'm excited to see who's going to win the quarterback position this fall."
