After learning that nose tackle Kris Jenkins would miss the season following a knee injury in the second quarter of the Jets Week 1 loss to Baltimore, the team quickly moved to sign Howard Green to provide defensive depth along the line. A space-eater at tackle, Green played with the Jets last year and similarly helped share a load of the snaps following Jenkins season-ending injury in 2009. Upon returning from the team’s bye, he was cut by the Jets last week.
The reason was simple. The massive defensive tackle showed up after the bye week carrying an extra 15 pounds. It was a slap in the face to the team’s strength and conditioning staff, which had been putting in extra time after practice and putting Green on the treadmill to slim down. Instead of using the bye week to continue toward a more svelte self, Green showed up in worse shape than when he left the team’s training facility two weeks ago.
Green was quickly gobbled up by Green Bay last week, starting for a patchwork Packers defensive line in Sunday’s 9-0 win over his ex-mates.
“Whether I wasn’t in their plans or it was a weight thing or this or that, I don’t know. I’m not here anymore,” Green told Metro. “That’s the long and the short of it. I am happy to be with Green Bay.”
Green, who looked likely to burst his snug Packers jersey if he exhaled, had a solid afternoon of getting in the Jets backfield and registered a tackle. But the man known as “Big How” in the Jets locker room refused to say that Sunday was about revenge.
“I’ve been cut in this league now what, like 10 times or something?” Green said with a laugh. “I’m not about revenge because then every week or every other week, it’s going to be a revenge thing. It’s a business, I get that. Most importantly, I am happy for the win for my new team in Green Bay.”
