Jachai Polite is the Jets’ newest pass rusher, but there are already concerns about his character before he even puts on a jersey.
According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, one scout had this to say about the former Gator: “He doesn’t have issues, he is an issue.”
Polite’s maturity issues came to light during the NFL combine. Not only did he look slow, overweight and unenthused, but Polite also reportedly bombed in interviews with prospective teams. He said he was “bashed” by the 49ers and Packers after both teams asked him about bad plays he had at Florida.
It wasn’t a great look for Polite, who many considered a first-round pick before the combine.
To top it all off, Polite quit on doing more drills at the combine after his initial poor tests because of a hamstring injury. However, some scouts believed the injury either wasn’t as severe as Polite made it out to be, or it was completely fabricated to avoid any further decline in value.
The Jets will need to curtail any potential problems with Polite, and quick. Mike Maccagnan used an early third-round pick on Polite and the Jets will expect him to contribute early in his Jets career. Not only that, Maccagnan’s track record in the middle rounds hasn’t been great and he’s taking an gamble on Polite.
The Florida edge rusher has the skills to be a solid player for the Jets, he just needs to quell the notions of his character issues.
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