The New York Jets have signed safety Yeremiah Bell to a one-year, $1.4 million deal, according to ProFootball Talk.

Bell, 35, recorded 107 tackles and one interception in 16 games for the Miami Dolphins in 2011. The former Pro Bowl safety was released by the Dolphins in March.

Bell had played his entire career for the Dolphins, recording 562 tackles and six interceptions in eight seasons. He was selected to the Pro Bowl in 2009.

Veteran free-agent defensive back Yeremiah Bell has signed a one-year contract worth $1.4 million with the New York Jets on Friday, according to a source with knowledge of the situation.

Bell’s contract includes a $1.3 million full guarantee plus a $200,000 signing bonus and a $100,000 workout bonus.

He was expected to sign with either the Philadelphia Eagles or the Jets by the end of business Friday.

Bell spent the past eight seasons with the Miami Dolphins and has started every game for the past four years except for one game he did not start in 2009.

Last season Bell collected 107 tackles, two sacks and one interception.

New York Jets and their first-round draft pick Quinton Coples have reached an agreement on a four-year deal, according to a club source.

The New York Daily News originally reported the signing, citing a source. The team later confirmed the signing.

Coples was selected No. 16 overall out of North Carolina.

Coples is tied for third in Tar Heel history with 24 sacks, including 17.5 in his last two years, despite having four position coaches and two head coaches during his college career.

NFL Network’s Kimberly Jones reported recently that Coples has already made an impact on the Jets’ practice field.

“I don’t know how many sacks he had last year,” Ryan said after a recent workout, “but he had about six today.”

Follow Albert Breer on Twitter @AlbertBreer

ESPN analysts Stephen A. Smith and Chris Carter spent a large portion of Thursday’s “SportsCenter” debating who should take snaps for the Jets, even though the 2012 Season doesn’t start for another four months.

Tebow has impressed a lot of people at Jets camp, and his new teammates have said a lot of kind words about him. Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis praised Tebow when speaking with the media.

“He’s a born leader,” Revis said. “Very few athletes have the gift he has. He tries to lead by example all the time.”

Despite all the kind words being said about Tebow, Sanchez will almost certainly begin the season under center for New York. He signed a contract extension in March, and led Gang Green to the AFC Championship game in his first two seasons in the NFL.

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The Jets have also stated countless times that they acquired Tebow to backup Sanchez, and play in the Wildcat offense. The Jets traded a fourth and sixth round draft pick for Tebow and a Broncos seventh round selection.

New York would have a lot of egg on their face if Sanchez began the 2012 Season on the bench.

But who deserves to start for the Jets?

Both Tebow and Sanchez have somewhat similar resumes. The quarterbacks have a reputation for winning games while putting up subpar stats.

In 2009 and 2010, Sanchez and the Jets came one game away from reaching the Super Bowl. The quarterback got credit for helping his team win games, but threw four more interceptions than touchdowns during that time.

Sanchez was better last season, completing 26 touchdowns and 18 interceptions, but the Jets failed to make the postseason.

Tebow is the ultimate example of a player whose impact can’t be measured by stats.

He turned Denver’s season around in 2011 when he took over as the starter, and led them to a division title and a playoff win. The former Bronco did this while posting the worst completion percentage of any starting quarterback in the league.

Sanchez has been a winner with the Jets, but many in the organization reportedly don’t think he has what it takes to lead the Jets to the Promised Land.

If New York truly doesn’t believe Sanchez has what it takes to get to the next level, Tebow may eventually get his shot to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke.

It’s Sanchez’s job to lose, but it might not take much for him to lose it.

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Brett Favre’s ‘sexting’ scandal that dates all the way back to 2008 when he was starting quarterback for the New York Jets, is clearly an issue should have been put to bed by now.

Instead, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling ruled last month that the lawsuit brought against Favre, the New York Jets and Jets team supervisor Lisa Ripi, by former Jets masseuses Christine Scavo and Shannon O’Toole, will not be dismissed.

Scavo and O’Toole allege that Favre flirted with them in text messages, close to the same time the legendary quarterback was accused of sending sexy text messages and lewd, below-the-belt photos of himself to former Jets employee, Jenn Sterger.

“Brett here. You and Crissy want to get together? I’m all alone,” Favre wrote in one message, according to their lawsuit filed last year. “Kinda lonely tonight. I guess I have bad intentions.”

Clearly, Favre was in the wrong from the standpoint that he was married at the time, and sending flirtacious texts to other women was a slight against his wife, Deanna Favre.

But the lawsuit has nothing to do with Favre being married, and everything to do with sexual harassment and job discrimination.

The legal definition of sexual harassment is “unwelcome verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature that is severe or pervasive and affects working conditions or creates a hostile work environment.”

Favre was never Scavo and O’Toole’s superior, as he was simply a fellow New York Jets employee who could not fire, promote, demote, or reassign the two masseuses.

If you’re not someone’s superior who has the ability to change the status of one’s job, it’s only sexual harassment if the conduct unreasonably interferes with work performance or creates an “intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.”

In my view, Favre’s text message to Scavo wasn’t intimidating, hostile or overly offensive. He simply asked if the women wanted to get together because he was feeling lonely. Of course it was slightly flirtacious, but I didn’t view it as something that would create a hostile work environment.

Apparently these women often gave players private massages in the athletes’ personal homes, outside of the Jets’ practice facility.

Of course that doesn’t make it alright for the players to flirt with them, but it’s easy to see how a male athlete can get mixed signals from a private massage from a female in the comfort of their own homes.

Even in the most basic medical massage, there’s a lot of touching and feeling that goes on, which Favre may have interpreted as a sexual advance on their part.

Another item missing from the reports is exactly how and why Favre had the masseuses’ personal phone numbers in the first place. If the masseuses gave their numbers to Favre directly, he may have viewed that as flirtacious behavior.

In an ESPN.com report, Jets team supervisor Lisa Ripi ripped into both Favre and the former team masseuses.

“There are ways to handle things in a professional manner and ways to be compensated not in public. … All this nonsense is unnecessary,” Ripi wrote, according to the lawsuit. “For sure feel horrible that u had to go thru that w a pervert. … He was wrong on all counts…and we cldve helped u a lot more at that time.”

Perhaps what we can learn from this is that NFL teams should look into hiring male masseuses to avoid such situations in the future.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Jets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Sources

http://sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nfl/news/story?id=5985582, ESPN.com, quotes

New York Jets first-year defensive line coach Karl Dunbar says the team plans to use more of Buddy Ryan’s “46″ defense next season, Jenny Vrentas of The Star-Ledger reports.

“We’re going to play a lot of that 46 defense,” Dunbar said on Wednesday. “You get in that 46 defense, you’re going to get a lot of one-on-one blocks, and when we put athletic guys on the field, bad things happen for the offense.”

The Jets have devoted considerable draft resources towards upgrading what was an aging defensive line. 2011 draft picks Muhammad Wilkerson and Kenrick Ellis each possess the size and athleticism to play the “5″ technique (defensive end in a 3-4), “3″ technique defensive tackle or nose tackle positions. The Jets then used their 2012 first round pick on Quinton Coples, a 6-foot-6, 285-pound lineman whose versatility allowed him to play both defensive end and defensive tackle at North Carolina, where he posted 17.5 sacks over the last two seasons.

Dunbar thinks Coples will be “an awesome fit” in New York.

“I don’t see a problem with that,” Dunbar said of Coples’ slight statistical decline in 2011. “I saw a great athlete, and he’s going to get a chance to show who he is. From the things I’ve seen in the three days of practice and mini-camp we had, I’m loving every minute.”

The New York Jets got a little bit younger at the defensive end position with the No. 16 overall selection of North Carolina standout Quinton Coples in the 2012 NFL Draft held on Apr. 26, but the young man will be creeping up in age as he turns 22 years old on June 22.

Here’s a look at the rest of the New York Jets who will be celebrating birthdays in June:

1) Derek Chard: The Jets filled their offseason need for a long-snapper with the signing of former UConn standout Derek Chard, who turns 24 years old on June 23. He’s expected to compete with Tanner Purdum for the starting role.

2) John Connor: John Connor, known affectionately by teammates and fans as “The Terminator,” gets to blow out his birthday candles on June 8, as he turns 25 years old.

3) Mike DeVito: Devito, a defensive end in his fifth season out of Maine, turns 28 on June 10. He’s spent his entire NFL career with the Jets, working his way up as a fan favorite since joining the squad in 2007.

4) Dedrick Epps: Epps, who turns 24 on June 19, has been a well-traveled tight end since joining the league in 2010. In just three seasons, he’s already played for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins and Indianapolis Colts, before signing with the Jets at the end of 2011.

5) Ellis Lankster: There’s not many things better in the world than a summer birthday, and Lankster gets to celebrate his 25th on June 3. No one is going to mistake him for Darrelle Revis, but the Jets are taking a chance on him as a go-to cornerback perhaps in nickel defense situations.

6) Josh Mauga: Jets fans and Mauga’s friends and family will be wishing him a happy birthday on June 20, as he turns 25. He signed with the Jets in 2009 after going undrafted, and he’s seem some limited playing time through the years.

7) Brandon Moore: Moore, a guard for the Jets, turns 32 years old on June 3. He’s been a fan favorite in the Big Apple for close to a decade, as he’s been an integral part of the Jets defense since joining the team as an undrafted free agent in 2002.

Bryan Thomas: Thomas, who turns 33 on June 7, is one of the elder statesman on the Jets defense.

9) Jordan White: White, who turns 24 on June 4, is one of the newest Jets on the roster. He was drafted by the team in the seventh round of the 2012 NFL Draft, and he could turn out to be a go-to target for Mark Sanchez.

10) Royce Pollard: The Jets signed Pollard on May 5 after the rookie free agent wide receiver impressed Jets brass in an offseason tryout. He turns 23 years old on June 3.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Jets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Sources

http://www.nfl.com/teams/newyorkjets/roster?team=NYJ, NFL, team roster

The New York Jets deserve a ton of credit for convincing fans and the local media that the locker-room issues that cost the team a playoff spot in 2011 are a thing of the past.

According to a New York Daily News report, Mark Sanchez and Santonio Holmes put their differences behind them and are determined to move forward in a positive direction for the greater good of the team.

“It was good to just kind of talk, away from the building, away from football, and talk about how things didn’t go so well last year, how we can move on and get better,” Sanchez said on May 10. “As soon as we came back, (we said) that we’d never talk about it again and let’s just move forward. That’s exactly what he’s done. That’s what I expect him to do. He expected the same from me. It was important that we had that time, and now we’re back and you would never (think) it happened.”

Besides locker-room issues, here’s a look at three more concerns heading into the season:

1) Quarterback Controversy: Mark Sanchez needs a fast start to 2012 after finishing last season with a woeful seven interceptions in the final three games of the year, and fans are going to be chanting to bring in Tim Tebow at the first signs of distress for the 25-year-old.

The distraction of having one of the most popular athletes in the world as backup quarterback won’t do much to help Sanchez’s development as he enters his fourth year in the NFL.

So far, both Sanchez and Tebow have said all the right things, but we’ll see how fast that will change when the team starts to struggle.

2) AFC Beast: The AFC has never been better, as the New England Patriots still have the legendary Tom Brady and Bill Belichick running the show.

The Buffalo Bills are also significantly improved with the addition of prized free agent defensive end Mario Williams.

The Jets may be vying for third-place with the Miami Dolphins, who have a quarterback controversy on their hands between Matt Moore, Ryan Tannehill and David Garrard.

3) Steep learning curve: It takes a while for a team to gel, especially when you shake up your entire coaching staff.

The Jets addressed many of their offseason needs by bringing in a No. 2 receiver behind Santonio Holmes, and trading for Tim Tebow to give them a better option than Mark Brunell in the backup quarterback role, but all the new faces on the coaching staff may need an entire season to smooth out exactly how this team is going to run.

Over the offseason, the Jets brought in offensive coordinator Tony Sparano, O-line coach Dave DeGuglielmo, wide receivers coach Sanjay Lal and defensive line coach Karl Dunbar.

What are some other reasons to be concerned as we move ahead into the new season? Let me know in the comments.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Jets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

New York Jets quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh told the New York Daily News that he was impressed with quarterback Tim Tebow’s mechanics.

“I think he can be very good,” Cavanaugh told the Daily News. “I was pleasantly surprised when I saw him over an extended period of time . . . not just watching him play on film. I think he’s certainly got the arm strength. He has good mechanics. They’re getting better every day.”

“I think with Tim, he’s more focused right now in the offseason on just working on the fundamentals of trying to be rhythmic in the pocket,” Cavanaugh said. “So (he) can be using the mechanics that (he) wants to be using. We started to toy a little bit with some of the other things that will happen to you . . . And he’s shown great progress. I’m real pleased with him.”

New York acquired Tim Tebow via trade after the young quarterback’s former squad, the Broncos, signed Peyton Manning as a free-agent. Due to Tebow’s success in the 2011 season, many have speculated that he will challenge incumbent Jets starter Mark Sanchez for the starting position once the 2012 campaign begins. Jets management, however, has affirmed that Sanchez is slotted to be the team’s No. 1 quarterback.

New York Jets quarterbacks coach Matt Cavanaugh told the New York Daily News that he was impressed with quarterback Tim Tebow’s mechanics.

“I think he can be very good,” Cavanaugh told the Daily News. “I was pleasantly surprised when I saw him over an extended period of time . . . not just watching him play on film. I think he’s certainly got the arm strength. He has good mechanics. They’re getting better every day.”

“I think with Tim, he’s more focused right now in the offseason on just working on the fundamentals of trying to be rhythmic in the pocket,” Cavanaugh said. “So (he) can be using the mechanics that (he) wants to be using. We started to toy a little bit with some of the other things that will happen to you . . . And he’s shown great progress. I’m real pleased with him.”

New York acquired Tim Tebow via trade after the young quarterback’s former squad, the Broncos, signed Peyton Manning as a free-agent. Due to Tebow’s success in the 2011 season, many have speculated that he will challenge incumbent Jets starter Mark Sanchez for the starting position once the 2012 campaign begins. Jets management, however, has affirmed that Sanchez is slotted to be the team’s No. 1 quarterback.

Updated May 11, 2012 2:37 AM ET

The Sports Xchange

11:13 a.m. EDT, May 10, 2012

The Jets are one of a handful of teams HBO is still considering for the “Hard Knocks” series.

The Atlanta Falcons declined to be the featured team this year, and the New York Daily News reported that HBO would like to have a team in place by the end of the month. The other teams still being considered aren’t known.

The Jets were the featured team in 2010, and owner Woody Johnson recently said he’d like another opportunity to be on the series.

The NFL Network is counting down the top 100 players of 2012, and the only New York Jet on the list in spots No. 70-100 was Tim Tebow, who ranked No. 95.

With the top 70 players yet to be revealed, I am wondering how many New York Jets will make it onto the list. The team had a miserable 2012 season overall, but there were several standout performers who deserve to be recognized.

Here’s my predictions for the rest of the New York Jets who will make it onto the list of the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2012:

1) Darrelle Revis: There’s no question that Revis will be on the NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2012 list, and I can see him ending up perhaps in the top ten overall.

He’s a perennial Pro-Bowler who rarely gets beat in coverage, and he has lived up to the hype as the premier shutdown corner in the league. Revis has been to four consecutive Pro-Bowls, and he’s coming off a stellar year of notching four interceptions.

2) Sione Pouha: I would have guessed that Pouha would rank somewhere between No. 80 and 90 on the list, but his name hasn’t popped up in the bottom 30 athletes named. That makes me wonder if he’ll be on it at all.

Pouha definitely should be considered one of the top 100 players in the game today, as he’s an elite defensive tackle who always gives opposing offensive lineman a lot to handle.

3) Nick Mangold: Much like Pouha, I thought Mangold would have earned a spot somewhere in the bottom 30 spots on the list. He should be ranked somewhere between No. 80 and 90 in the league, which makes me question whether he’ll be on the list at all.

With the top 70 spots remaining, it would be a stretch to say Mangold is a true top 70 player in the NFL. Nevertheless, his 6-foot-3, 300-pound frame doesn’t stop him from exploding off the line and doing his fair share to protect Mark Sanchez.

4) D’brickashaw Ferguson: Ferguson, a 6-foot-6, 310-pound beast of an offensive tackle, is coming off a Pro-Bowl season. He is the complete package – an elite blocker with superb field vision, brute physicality, the will to win, and superb lateral movement.

Ferguson uses his hands well and stays cool under pressure. I would have guessed that Ferguson would rank between No. 90 and 100 overall, so I’m not sure that he’ll find his way onto the list since he hasn’t made it by now. Is he a top 70 player in the NFL at this point in his career? Probably not.

Which New York Jets will make it onto the NFL’s Top 100 Players of 2012 list? Let me know in the comments.

Eric Holden is a lifelong New York Jets fan. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Sources

www.nfl.com, NFL, player and team stats

While New York Jets QB Tim Tebow has been in the news for attending the recent Met Gala in New York, it turns out he isn’t the only player attending galas. Jets CB Ellis Lankster recently attended the Stuttering Foundation Gala on May 8^th in honor of National Stuttering Awareness Week.

Lankster, who stutters, has not let that get in his way. He says, “God made me a star football player who stutters for a reason. So I can help other people who stutter.”

In a press release I received, the Stuttering Foundation announced that Lankster was presented with the Foundation’s “Converting Awareness into Action” Award for everything he has done to inspire those who stutter.

Jane Fraser, president of the Stuttering Foundation, stated, “Ellis shows his true toughness by sharing his struggles with fluency as a child. He refused to let his stutter keep him from his dream of playing professional football, and he is committed to helping and inspiring children attain their dreams by overcoming the obstacles they face.”

Stuttering, according to the Foundation’s website, is a communication disorder that causes things such as abnormal stoppages in speech or words broken by repetition. It affects more than 68 million people worldwide and over three million in the United States alone.

For many children, stuttering can be a difficult battle to face and many children suffer from being picked on. Having a celebrity and professional football player who has lived with stuttering play such an active role in awareness is amazing. Lankster shows children that stuttering does not mean you can’t live your dream. Lankster is proof that anything is possible.

While the media in New York and across the nation may focus on Tim Tebow and the role model he is, Lankster is just as much of a role model for so many children and adults living with a stutter. My hats off to him for all the work he is doing to make a difference. It would be nice to see a lot more NFL players making headlines for stories like this.

The Stuttering Foundation was founded back in 1947 by Malcolm Fraser and celebrates its 65th anniversary this year.

Resource: Press Release from the Stuttering Foundation

Deborah Braconnier is a former athlete and avid football fan. She is a freelance writer and Featured Contributor for the NFL and Olympics. She has followed the Denver Broncos since she was a child and became a fan of Tim Tebow during his run as a QB for the Broncos. She looks forward to following his career with the New York Jets this season. Follow her on Twitter at @fwcdeborah.