Jets Notes: Marshall, Decker, LBs, Smith

Jets wide receivers Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker, accompanied by Kimberley Martin of Newsday, took a helicopter ride to Marshall’s doctor’s office recently, where the older of the two New York starting wideouts received an advanced treatment as he prepares for training camp. Here are some of the highlights from that conversation, along with some additional Jets news.

• An 11th-year pro who’s registered 1,000+ yards for four franchises in the past eight years, Marshall told Martin he spends around $200K per year on various health maintenance routines and spent a recent evening undergoing the same treatment Kobe Bryant used late in his career. Marshall uses the Regenokine Program, an anti-inflammation treatment involving injections, multiple times before training camp during the seasons to help accelerate recovery. “It’s what a lot of people call ‘the Kobe Bryant shots,’ ” Marshall told Martin. “For older athletes . . . this is like the fountain of youth.” The 32-year-old Marshall underwent this treatment for turf toe and knee maladies during the 2015 season and received injections in both areas during the recent visit.
• Marshall admits he wasn’t sold on Decker as much more than a Peyton Manning-propelled player before he saw Decker’s Jets work, Martin reports. “Today he told me, ‘I honestly thought you were a product of Peyton [Manning]. Like I didn’t believe you were good,” Decker said. Decker doesn’t quite have Marshall’s body of work but displayed last season he could thrive without Manning’s assistance. The now-29-year-old receiver delivered his best statistical sample for the record-setting 2013 Broncos, gaining 1,288 yards through the air and finishing a two-season stretch with Manning where he scored 24 touchdowns. In 2015, Decker added 12 more scores and 1,027 yards.
• As training camp approaches in less than six weeks, Marshall admitted he’s tired of talking about the Ryan Fitzpatrick saga, that still sits with the sides disagreeing on a three-year, $24MM offer. Although the duo was reported to have skipped a portion of Jets OTAs as a show of support for the team to re-sign Fitzpatrick, Marshall would prefer to know who his quarterback is soon. “It was funny and cool at the beginning,” Marshall told Martin regarding the Fitz situation, “Like, you can throw some punchlines in there. But now it’s like, it’s time to roll.”
• The Jets have offered Fitzpatrick $15MM in guaranteed money and still want him to be their starter despite Geno Smith‘s offseason progression, Rich Cimini of ESPN.com writes. Todd Bowles said recently Smith is “light years” ahead of where he was going into last year before the locker room sucker-punch incident derailed his season, but Cimini points out the fourth-year former second-round pick’s status atop the Jets’ depth chart this close to camp has strengthened the 33-year-old Fitzpatrick’s leverage. Although no other teams appear to be in on him at this point, Fitzpatrick and his camp has a Smith-led Jets offense as a point in their favor as the sides’ impasse continues.
• Lorenzo Mauldin and Jordan Jenkins reside as the favorites to start at outside linebacker for Gang Green, Brian Costello of the New York Post reports. Third-round picks in the past two drafts, the duo would obviously bring little experience to the position, although Mauldin did back up Calvin Pace last season, playing 261 snaps. Two-hundred-twenty-four of those came on passing downs, which enabled him to see pass-rushing work en route to four sacks last season — second-most among Jets ‘backers. As Roster Resource details, the Jets are counting on these two young cogs, with Pace gone and no one drafted above the seventh round sitting behind them.