The Jets' tight ends room has a new look and new faces with the drafting of Mason Taylor and the signing in free agency of Stone Smartt. There is a bridge to the past few seasons and perhaps to a bright future in Jeremy Ruckert, the Long Island native who is preparing for his fourth season with the Green & White.

With Tyler Conklin leaving in free agency and Taylor, drafted in the second round (No. 42) overall out of LSU, and the addition of Smartt, Ruckert faces a challenge for playing time and chances to catch the ball.

"I think mainly this year I'm just focusing on myself and where we need to go as a team, just continue to grow and continue to get better," Ruckert said on Tuesday, the first day of mandatory minicamp at 1 Jets Drive. "I've always played by the motto of just whatever they need me to do. I'm going to do whatever they want, whatever they need me to do, I'm going to do it. And I think that the biggest thing for this season is get these young guys rolling. I think our room is awesome. I think we're going in the right direction. I think this offseason has been mostly about building this culture and the standard that we need to play with. And I'm super excited about that and continue to get that role in training camp."

Still, Ruckert (6-5, 250), who has 35 receptions for 264 yards in limited time on the field (37% of offensive snaps last season) his first three seasons, knows the drafting of Taylor will have an impact.

"Mason's a great kid, super talented, just kind of get his feet wet, get him rolling," Ruckert said. "And a big addition to the room, the more you can do as a room and keep defenses, keep defenses on their toes. So just trying to bring him along show him the ropes. I know he's got a lot of experience with his dad [Hall of Fame DE Jason Taylor] telling him what it's like.

"But again, the standard that we're trying to set, I'm gonna really take that personal to bring these guys along with me and show Coach Glenn that I could be a guy to rally behind and get these guys going. I'm self-motivated, whether it's him [Taylor] in the second round, whether it's someone they want to bring in [Smartt]. Everybody's kind of trying to take someone's job. You should worry about yourself. Control the controllables. Show up to work every day, try and get better yourself. That makes the team better. Just worried about that and continue to grow."

Head coach Aaron Glenn took time during the recent OTA sessions to sit down with Ruckert and give him a critique of what he and the coaching staff expect. On Tuesday, Glenn accentuated the positive.

"Here's the one thing I think that stands out about Ruck is, man, you love the physical traits that he has and his ability to be able to understand how to sustain blocks, like where his arm should be placed, how should he create leverage with who he is, because he is pretty tall," Glenn said. "And being able to stay low and be able to get under people, because he is a tough guy, he is violent. Now, just understand the little techniques of how to use all that and be able to finish on guys. So, again, I'm excited about that player, he still has a ways to go, but he is getting better."

Being reunited with the versatile Justin Fields, his QB for a time in college at Ohio State, Ruckert, his fellow TEs and the Jets' wide receivers are expected to lend their heft and aggressiveness to blocking as part of their required responsibilities. As with the Buckeyes and Fields, Ruckert said he's comfortable with the challenges presented by playing within an RPO (run pass option) offense.

"I think it opens up everything," Ruckert said. "You get an extra blocker. We did do a lot of that in college. I think it opens up avenues for everybody to get open. They got to account for more guys. So anytime you have that, it's a good mismatch. Put that on their minds and there's a lot of different things that we can do, so I think that experience will help us, knowing that there's a lot of different jobs. You got to block for him, you got to block for the run, you have to block for the pass. It's a lot of nuances, but I think it opens up a lot of opportunities for the offense to be successful."