Will he make the team this year?

Doesn't seem like the coaching staff is very fond of him and he's been just awful so far in game action.

I don't know if you can keep 2 fullbacks and 4 running backs, and I'd keep Woodhead over him EASILY.

They used a 4th rounder on him. He'll make the team, even if he doesn't deserve to.

Woodhead is probably the worst football player of the bunch. But, I love it when teams carry a guy like him. He can stay.

Exactly

I'm a Giants fan and have not watched Gholston closely but I highly doubt he would still be on the Jets if he were not the #6 overall pick in the 08 draft.

Gholston has looked pretty good this camp after being moved back to DE. And with Pitoitua out for the season and an aging Shaun Ellis, he's actually quite likely to be in the rotation up front this year.

McKnight will make the team. It wouldn't surprise me if he was inactive on game days though and they only dressed LT2 and Greene. I think if all things were equal (i.e. McKnight wasn't a 4th round pick), Chauncey Washington would make the team over him. He's looked good on teams.

I think Woodhead will be cut.

Rex was talking up McKnight in his Monday press conference yesterday.

Says the kid has turned the corner attitude-wise and it's showing in practice.

Someone asked Rex if they had de-activated the kid to give him a wake-up call and Rex feigned surprise, claiming tongue-in-cheek, he'd never do something like that to motivate a player.

I'll say it again, I want Rex Ryan to manage the Mets, please.

I don't think they deactivated him to give him a wakeup call. I think they deactivated him because he wasn't one of the best 45 players on the roster.

In fact, I bet he'll be inactive once again on Monday night.

You might be right, but they're also having him work at cornerback on defense.

If he can play multiple positions that could get him on the field quicker.

His ability on defense was one the things Rex was talking up, said when they were scouting McKnight someone Rex trusts told him McKnight was the best defensive back on the USC campus, even though he was never asked to play the position in college.

Worth revisiting this thread.

Admittedly, it was against the Bills, who struggle to stop the run.

But 158 yards against an NFL team is 158 yards against an NFL team. And the nature of the game was such that the runs were pretty predictable and they still couldn't stop him.

Woodhead has been great in New England, but after today, you can at least see why they saw something in McKnight.

I'll also say that the Woodhead that has been on display probably wouldn't have emerged the way the Jets would have used him.

Well, since I was the one who started the thread way back when, let me defend myself a bit:

1) Can't compare the relative worths of Woodhead and McKnight this year. Even if the Patriots' Woodhead wouldn't have emerged here, still think its viable he would've done a hell of a lot more than rack up Week 17 yardage. And its not like we're comparing a young gun who can only get better to a grizzled vet so you were playing long-term vs. short term...we're going to be seeing Woodhead in the Red, Blue and White for a long time, probably (much?) longer than McKnight lasts in the Green.

2) I did, however, suggest a few weeks back in the IST that it might be time to give McKnight some run under the same "fresh legs vs. tired legs of the defense" theory that they used to start working in Greene late last season before his uber-impressive playoff run. It was against the Bills, playing for nothing, but it was definitely an impressive showing, both in the run and passing game with his routes and hands, and with LT showing absolutely zilch over the last 8 weeks or so other than good hands, maybe it makes sense to get McKnight in some space in a very niche role over the next few weeks, with some new packages without any preparation possible for. Still think Greene is going to have a bigger role next week than he has all season (could easily see 25 carries for him, 7-10 touches total for LT and McKnight).

McKnight's showing couldn't have gone much better from the Jets pov.

They rested Tomlinson and added another option, especially if someone gets banged up mid-game.

Looking ahead, it means they don't have an urgency to add any new backs for 2011, which will make it easier to manage the cap with all the other people they have to pay.