Joe McKnight is on the rise

A year ago, Joe McKnight was beginning to look like a bust.

Sure, there was head coach Rex Ryan talking in his press conferences about McKnight’s progress and his importance to the team. And there was a brief jump in interest when it came out that McKnight was playing in the secondary in practice, with a rush of news stories about how the fourth-round pick could be transitioning to defense, where he had been a star in high school. But to see McKnight now named as an alternate to the Pro Bowl on special teams -- well, no one saw that one coming.

Include McKnight on that list, who was no Nostradamus concerning his success this season. McKnight is averaging 31.9 yards per kickoff return including a 107-yard return at Baltimore in Week 5.

“I never thought I’d be a Pro Bowler, an alternate,” McKnight told Metro on Wednesday. “Never thought it’d happen [or] I’d be here at this point.”

McKnight is clearly valued by the Jets, his versatility and athleticism showing an uptick for a player once better known for his upchuck.

It was so bad last year that before the season even started, McKnight was getting slammed in the press. He showed up to rookie camp immediately after the NFL Draft out of shape and was seen throwing up between drills. He couldn’t complete the sessions without being gassed and he entered preseason camp still struggling to catch up from that first impression.

“Joe McKnight, from where he was last year, the improvements he made being first alternate to the Pro Bowl, I think’s impressive, as well,” Ryan said. “And we told him that, that he really should be proud of himself.”
 
He appeared in just nine games last year and with a smattering of 36 carries, failing to contribute any real significance to the team. From that low point came an offseason of hard work resulting in McKnight now being established among the options in the team’s backfield. It was his playmaking ability on special teams that spearheaded the AFC’s third-best kickoff return team and the sixth best in the league.

“It was a good learning curve, I just had to learn how to keep fighting through things, keep pushing and find ways to get on the field,” McKnight said.

“Next year is going to be more about coming in and trying to help the team win, and progress every day. [I’m] just trying to make a bigger impact.”


Follow Jets beat writer Kristian Dyer on Twitter @KristianRDyer.