Stock Up, Stock Down for Key New York Jets Heading into Camp

It's been a long offseason for New York Jets fans, but with training camp starting up across the NFL in less than two weeks, it's time to get excited for football once again.

Seeing the green and white back out on the field will be a welcome sight for fans who have been hurting since the end of the 2011 season and the subsequent portrayal of a locker room in disarray.

The 2012 offseason has seen the most significant changes during Rex Ryan's tenure, and anticipation for camp is high.

The team and coaching staff have a lot to prove in 2011 and if all accounts of OTAs and minicamp are accurate, the team is on a mission this year.

Ryan has done less talking and claims that out of a possible 2,211 individual workouts during the offseason, only 33 were missed.  Ryan believes this to be the best rate in the NFL.

Expectations are high for many of the new players the Jets have brought in, but some players from last season need to improve on their play.

There are many reasons to be excited about the Jets in 2012, but also some areas of concern.

This slideshow takes a look at some key players on the roster and whether their stock is moving up or down heading into training camp.

Quinton Coples: Stock Up

The Jets' first round selection of Quinton Coples was given the following grades by various sources:

Pete Prisco of cbssportsline.com: C-

Chirs Burke of si.com: D+ (entire draft)

Sigmund Bloom of Bleacher Report: C-

John Czarnecki of foxsports.com: C

The basic feeling among all draft "experts" was that Coples had a tendency to take plays off, and had at times, looked to be lazy.  

Nowhere did it say that Coples was going to establish himself as a supremely talented, hard working beast who would be a key factor in Rex Ryan overhauling his basic defensive philosophy.  

It remains to be seen whether Coples can keep this up for an extended period of time, and he will need to produce during games in order to keep the goodwill he has built up with fans—but for now, so far, so good.

Coples signed early and drew immediate praise from Ryan, who declared him the starter all the way back in April.  In fact, Coples has been so impressive that he played a role in Ryan declaring that the Jets would be using a 4-3 defense a significant portion of the time in 2012.

While Coples' presence isn't the only reason the Jets plan to try out the 4-3, it does play a key factor. The apparent improvement shown by Muhammad Wilkerson and Kenrick Ellis and the early promise showed by Coples make it seem that the defensive line will be a strength of this team.

The success of first round draft picks is such a difficult thing to forecast, but for now it looks like those who graded down Coples will be eating their words pretty quick. 

Santonio Holmes: Stock Down

Santonio Holmes' meltdown at the end of last season was one of the more visible on-field tantrums we have seen in a Jets game in recent memory.

Holmes had a tremendous 2010 season, but an unproductive 2011 on the field and in the locker room has caused his stock as a No.1 receiver to fall incredibly.

Once the dust settled, Holmes has been doing his best for the most part for a good portion of the 2012 offseason.

He has made numerous public and private appearances with Mark Sanchez in an attempt to fix their broken relationship, or at least give the impression that's what he's doing.

They worked out together in Florida, appeared at a Knicks game and palled around at Sanchez's Jets West camp.

Holmes even participated in an NFL USO event in Germany.

However, when he returned from that USO tour, he had his only real blip of the offseason when he pulled himself out of an OTA and had words with new receivers coach Sanjay Lal because he felt he was given too many reps.

Holmes made headlines earlier in the week when he candidly said he didn't think a two-quarterback system would work. 

Former teammate LaDainian Tomlinson, who has been the most vocal person when speaking out about Holmes' actions, has also said that Holmes could remain a problem going forward in the locker room.

Holmes should be given credit for making a concerted effort to build his reputation and his relationship with his teammates this offseason, but comparing where his stock was one year ago to where it is now, there's no question Holmes' stock is down. 

Mark Sanchez: Stock Up

As a general rule of thumb, if a player starts dating Eva Longoria in the offseason, his stock automatically goes up.

All kidding aside, this one was a tough case to judge.

If you compare Sanchez's standing now to where it was one year ago (as was done with Santonio Holmes in the previous slide), there's no question Sanchez's stock is down.

Like Holmes, Sanchez had a reputation to rehabilitate in the offseason and has done a fine job doing just that.

After last season's ugly blowout with Holmes, Sanchez accepted Holmes' invitation to join him at ESPN's Wide World of Sports complex for a week-long workout.  To return the favor, Holmes attended Sanchez's Jets West Camp.

What ultimately pushed Sanchez's stock out of the red and into the green though, has been his handling of the Tim Tebow situation.

Sanchez, who has been accused of being thin-skinned, has worked well with Tebow so far, both on and off the field.

Sanchez also weathered the early storm of when they were both in workouts together for the first time in May.  During that time, it was clear that Sanchez was the better quarterback.

To further cement Sanchez's standing, Darrelle Revis and Nick Mangold, two players who will go down as all-time Jets, have spoken highly of Sanchez as their clear leader this offseason. 

Even Homes' comments this week came off as supportive towards Sanchez.

Sanchez has a lot to prove coming into this season and will be under more pressure to perform than he has ever been during his time as a Jet.

If you compare Sanchez's stock to where it was at this point last year, his stock is down.  But compared to where his stock was at the end of the 2011 season, Sanchez's stock is tentatively up.

Nick Folk: Stock Down

During his two-year tenure as a Jet, Nick Folk has probably given the team what would be expected of him.  He's made his share of important kicks, but lacks the consistency expected from a kicker on a winning team.

Folk has missed 15 field goals over the past two seasons (about one every other game he's played), and rated near the bottom of the league each of the past two seasons with field goal percentages under 77 percent.

While Rex Ryan has always been publicly supportive of Folk, anyone could read between the lines when the Jets signed veteran kicker Josh Brown almost immediately after he was released by the Rams.

Both kickers present different problems.

Brown has been very consistent at short range, but has waning leg strength and suffered a down season in 2011.  Folk has the leg strength needed to kick at MetLife Stadium, but sometimes can be inconsistent from close range.

Whether or not Brown beats out Folk, one thing is certain: the Jets actions in signing a veteran like Brown show a lack of trust in Folk as the long-term solution at kicker.

Joe McKnight: Stock Up

This slide is based solely on speculation about the thinking and actions of the Jets front office surrounding their running back situation.  

Since LaDainian Tomlinson left, the only thing the Jets have done to address a thin running back corps was draft Terrance Ganaway in the sixth round of the NFL draft.

That being the case, Joe McKnight's stock has to be up as far as the Jets front office is concerned.

McKnight is going to be given every chance as the backup to Shonn Greene and should have no problem holding off Bilal Powell and Ganaway going into opening day.

McKnight has only seen extensive action at running back in three games during the past two seasons.  

He torched the Bills for 158 yards on 32 carries in 2010, ran the ball nine times for 27 yards in 2011 against the Bills and had a strong all-around game against the Broncos in 2011 when he rushed 16 times for 59 yards and caught six passes for 62 yards.

Whether or not McKnight can produce on a consistent basis remains to be seen, but he offers one of the few explosive weapons the Jets have on offense, and will most certainly be given his biggest opportunity in 2012.

Wayne Hunter: Stock Down

At this point it seems like overkill to continue to rip Wayne Hunter, but with a lot of good feelings around the team going into training camp, the team whipping boy still remains one of the negatives on the Jets roster.

Hunter's struggles at right tackle were well-documented last year, and there really hasn't been any reason to think that things will change in 2012.

Hunter will be entering his ninth season in the NFL, so it's not like he's some young player trying to learn his way.  At this point, he probably is what he is, a serviceable backup who is a hazard to everyone's health when he gets extended playing time.

New offensive line coach Dave DeGuglielmo has already anointed Hunter the team's starting right tackle, and for better or worse, hypothetically put his life on the line that Hunter would play well.

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"Until they tell me otherwise, until they ship him out of this building or until they shoot me dead in my office, that son-of-a-gun is going to be the starting right tackle. And he's going to play well," said DeGuglielmo.

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Until anyone sees different though, the current depth of Hunter's stock is only lower than that of Vladimir Ducasse.

To put it in Wall Street terms, Hunter's stock is equivalent to that of Enron circa November of 2001.

Rex Ryan: Stock Up

First off, kudos to Rex Ryan on his 90-pound offseason weight loss.  Anyone who can pull that off, surgery or not, deserve to have his stock on the rise.

In 2012, Ryan faced his most tumultuous offseason during his short tenure as head coach of the Jets. Ryan's squad not only fell apart on the field, but was a disaster in the locker room and the coach admitted he didn't even realize it.

To his credit, Ryan took these events as a humbling experience and did something most coaches wouldn't do.  

He changed his ways.

Ryan added Tony Sparano to his staff and encouraged the coach to be visible and vocal in helping the Jets recommit to the running game.  Ryan has vowed to have a more toned-down approach this year, and seems to have conceded that Sparano's voice will be the one heard the most during practices.

On the defensive side, Ryan did even better.  He recognized that the defensive line is growing into a strength of the team and decided to adjust his own philosophies to better fit his personnel. 

Jets haters from across the country like to pick on Ryan for all his bluster and bold predictions. However, for people who are willing to take a closer look at the way Ryan operates, he is insightful, overly-supportive of his players and surprisingly humble and self-effacing.  

Ryan needed to act the way he did when he first got here in order to change the staid culture and stale feeling left behind by Eric Mangini.  He spearheaded a culture change in the organization and gave the Jets the swagger they needed to take on players like Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.

But now the time has come for him to take a step back in the media and allow the team's actions to speak for itself.

Ryan has done that and more in this offseason and has made all the right steps in trying to recover from the disaster that was 2011.

D'Brickashaw Ferguson: Stock Down

The word "regression" was thrown around a lot in 2011 when it came to the Jets.  

Mostly, it was in regards to the play of Mark Sanchez or the team's defense.

Another player who clearly had a regression was D'Brickashaw Ferguson.

Ferguson allowed a team-high 9.5 sacks in 2011, a total not becoming of a three-time Pro Bowl player.

Ferguson's sack numbers may have been a little inflated as the Jets were forced to slide protection to the right side to account for Wayne Hunter's ineptitude, but Ferguson is good enough that he should succeed, even when put out on an island.

In 2009 and 2010, the offensive line was a rock and Ferguson was second only to Nick Mangold in terms or production and leadership.  

However, while Mangold's stock remains high, questions surround Ferguson and his play going forward.

Ferguson will still only be 28 years old on opening day and it could very well be possible that 2011 was just an aberration, but he is going to have to prove himself all over again in 2012.

A bounce-back year for Ferguson is likely, but for now his stock is down after he struggled in 2011.