MO remains hamstrung
MUHAMMAD Wilkerson discussed the “minor little” setback he had in his recovery from a tweaked left hamstring for the first time on Saturday following practice.
The Jets defensive end could be seen doing positional drills last week after he returned from initially hurting the hamstring on Aug. 2. But on Saturday, he didn’t appear to be doing much of anything. He was on the field without his pads only watching.
“Yeah it’s a just a minor little setback,” he said. “Last week I tried to do some reps (in a team drill) but that’s just about it. We’re going to take it slowly and go from there. Of course everyone knows me, I want to be out there with my teammates and be practicing and involved with the guys, but for right now I have to do my job and stand on the side and help out the players the best I can, help out the defensive line and inside do all the treatment and rehab I have to do for my hamstring.”
Wilkerson wasn’t sure if he will be able to play against the Atlanta Falcons on Friday after he was held out of Thursday’s preseason-opening loss to the Lions. “I can’t say that right now,” he said. “I have to talk to the trainers.”
The good news was that Wilkerson said an MRI showed no tear.
Jets coach Todd Bowles described Wilkerson as being “day to day” in terms of when he will return.
“I’ll always err on the side of caution with him because we don’t want him to have a setback, especially live in a game,” Bowles said. “At some point in time he probably needs to get better and start getting some reps in there, but right now it’s just day to day and we’ll err on the side of caution.”
Wilkerson said he would be cautious, given the fragile nature of hamstrings. “Anybody who has a hamstring injury, it can linger, so I just have to make sure that it’s good before I go back out there,” he said. “I don’t want to have anymore setbacks.”
When asked if he felt any more optimistic about getting a new contract done before the start of the season, Wilkerson, who is scheduled to pocket $6.97 million as part of the Jets’ fifth-year option, said, “Next question.”
SUPPORT FOR GENO
When IK Enemkpali said that a number of his former Jets teammates reached out to him to wish him luck after he was released and picked up by the Bills, it gave the impression that perhaps the team wasn’t squarely behind Geno Smith, whom Enemkpali punched in the face and shattered his jaw in a locker-room fracas last week.
But outside linebacker Jason Babin told the Daily News following Saturday’s practice that’s not the case. Regarding the perception that Smith, who is sidelined six to 10 weeks, had lost a lot of the locker room following the incident, Babin said it wasn’t true.
“We’re in his corner,” Babin said. “We want him to have a speedy recovery, and the thing about him is he’s young. He’s going to recover quick, and he’s going to be back here quick and we’re all in his corner. I think we’re all taking the approach that what happened happened and we’re all moving on and we’re in Geno’s corner no matter what. Bottom line, he’s our guy and he’s on our team and we want to see him get healthy and get back on the field.”
Babin spoke with Enemkpali as he left the Jets’ Florham Park facility after he was released.
“I think he felt like he let himself down and let the team down,” Babin said. “That’s the biggest thing because he’s a good guy at heart but he did it. He owned it like a man and he wants to move on.”
Inside linebacker DeMario Davis was one of the players who reached out to Enemkpali after the incident.
“We’ve had some positive conversations,” Davis told the Daily News on Saturday, while declining to get into specifics about what was said. “We make mistakes, but overall most people in the locker room are generally good people and he’s a good person, a person who’s just trying to do the right thing. I think he will (learn from what happened).”
Babin said he told Enemkpali not to dwell too much on what happened while also growing from the event.
“My advice to him was, “Listen, ‘Everyone makes mistakes. We’re human,’ ” Babin said. “And I said, ‘You have to learn from it. But at the same time you can’t let it pull you into a rabbit hole because I’ve seen guys over my years make a mistake and then they let them consume them and take over.
“That’s the biggest thing because he’s a young player and he’s still trying to find his way and figure out how he’s going to play and what he’s going to do. It’s unfortunate but that’s life.”