Rex: Milliner A No-Go; Jets To Start Allen, Walls At Corner Against Raiders
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Who knows what's going to happen?
The Jets will be without their best cornerback when they take on the visiting Oakland Raiders in the season opener on Sunday. Head coach Rex Ryan announced on Friday that second-year man Dee Milliner had been ruled out due to a high ankle sprain he suffered early in training camp.
Safety Josh Bush (quadriceps) and linebacker Ikemefuna Enemkpali (foot) were also ruled out.
"I feel good about all three of them," Ryan said. "Hopefully they can play next week (at Green Bay), but for this week, all three of those guys are out."
The Jets will go with converted safety Antonio Allen and inexperienced Darrin Walls at corner against the Raiders, who will start rookie Derek Carr at quarterback.
Milliner, who was drafted in the first round last year, had an up-and-down rookie season, but became the de facto ace of the Jets' corners when the team let veteran Antonio Cromartie walk during the offseason. The Jets chose not to pursue free agent Darrelle Revis, but were in on a few veterans to replace Cromartie. However, they ultimately lost out on their top targets, including Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who ended up signing with the Giants.
Allen, a seventh round pick out of South Carolina in 2012, has never played a snap in the regular season at corner, but showed some promise during the preseason before suffering a concussion in the third game against the Giants. He announced earlier this week that he had passed the league-mandated concussion protocols and would start against the Raiders.
"He seems to be coming along pretty good," Ryan said of Allen's development at corner. "But we're going to find out on Sunday because there's nowhere to hide when you're out on that field.
"He can flat go up and catch it," Ryan added. "So, if you're going to plan on running jump balls all day long, I like our chances. Is he still going to be a little bit of a work-in-progress? Sure. He's probably not as good now as he's going to be in the next couple of weeks, three weeks or four weeks down the road. But, for right now, he's doing a good job for us."
In his fourth season out of Notre Dame, Walls played in just five games last season as a reserve, so the jury remains out on what he could be within Ryan's complicated scheme.
"I think Darrin Walls is a much better player now than he was last year," Ryan said. "I don't think it's even close."
Milliner injured his left ankle on Aug. 10 and hasn't practiced since. Ryan said it was too early to anticipate whether he would be ready in time to play against Aaron Rodgers and the Packers next week.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories
