07/27 — Who knew Leon Washington had another speed?

The all-purpose RB, who set a team single season record with three kickoff return touchdowns and rushed for 353 yards in 2007, is looking better than ever. Washington, 5'8", 202, has wowed fans in the early going of camp with his wheels and nifty cuts. The guy picks up yards in large chunks and is sensational to watch.

“He had an excellent offseason. He was actually our overall offseason award winner this year and you can see the work he did in the offseason translate on the field in all the different areas — his kickoff returns, his punt returns, his play at running back, his explosiveness at the picking up the blitz," said head coach Eric Mangini during his Sunday afternoon meeting with the press. "All that stuff has gotten better.”

Another player with freakish athletic ability on the Jets is rookie Vernon Gholston. But the 6'3", 264-pound OLB, drafted No. 6 overall out of The Ohio State University, has been forced to slow down because he missed so much time in the spring. It's safe to say that there's a lot of running going on inside Gholston's head.

“You talk about swimming — he’s swimming because he started later than the rest of the group," Mangini said. "Now he has all that information flowing in. The younger guys who were here had a chance to digest that in smaller chunks. He doesn’t have that chance — he has to eat the whole plate right away.”

On Saturday, the Jets waived rookie RB Danny Woodhead with an injured designation. The NCAA's all-time leading rusher, a Division II Chadron State product, injured his left knee during the club's third practice.

“Danny’s a great kid. He worked like crazy and to have an injury like that so early in camp is disappointing," Mangini said. "You never want to see anybody get injured and to see a guy like who just works so hard to put himself in a position to compete and make the team. It’s disappointing. But he’ll rehab the injury and he’ll get another shot.”

Mangini, in his three years as head coach, has displayed a willingness to give young players a shot. He credited QB Brett Ratliff for his development, saying he's had a good camp and the difference between this summer and last has been like "night and day."

“Getting out the play was like an act of Congress to get that done in the huddle,” joked Mangini of Ratliff's struggles a year ago.

As far as the quarterback competition between Chad Pennington and Kellen Clemens, Mangini reiterated that he was going to study the "body of work" of both passers before reaching any decision. It's early yet but Clemens has turned the ball over on a few occasions (a couple of interceptions and a botched snap) and that's something Mangini wants to see eliminated.

“Some mistakes are obviously more apparent than others," he said. "The one mistake you can’t have is you can’t turn the ball over — you just can’t turn the ball over.”

I'll check back later after practice, but Mangini also noted LT D'Brickashaw Ferguson's strength was increasing and his technique was improving. Randy was on top of that one and filed a nice feature on 'Brick that you'll be able to read either late Sunday night/first thing Monday on the site.