Dee Milliner is officially under contract. After the New York Jets traded away top cornerback Darrelle Revis to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, they drafted the former Alabama cornerback with the No. 9 pick. After going back and forth on offset language, Milliner is signed and the comparisons are already beginning.
It was inevitable that Milliner would be compared to Revis. The Jets drafted him with the expectations that he would be the heir to the cornerback throne. Head coach Rex Ryan is not quick to feed into the media's need to put the two players up against one another.
"I understand where people are coming from," Ryan said. "But Darrelle was a special player. We'll see what kind of player Dee is. Dee Milliner is never going to be Darrelle Revis. He's going to be Dee Milliner. And I think that's going to be good enough."
If Milliner is going to be as good as Revis is, he is going to have to play catch up with the rest of the team. As of now, Milliner is battling to have the starting spot alongside Antonio Cromartie. Just because he was a first-round draft pick, does not mean the Jets are just going to hand over a starting spot on the roster.
Defensive coordinator Dennis Thurman has already gotten a brief look at what Milliner can bring to the team after seeing him during OTAs and minicamps. Milliner reported to training camp on Monday, but did not arrive on time to participate in practice. Thurman is hoping that Milliner took time during the offseason to study the playbook. He is confident that if the rookie put in the effort, he will have no problems jumping into practice.
"We've got to get him up to speed. Then we'll get him out on the field and see what he can do," Thurman said.
Thurman referred to Milliner as a complete cornerback, noting he has the speed, size and ball awareness to really help take the Jets' defense to the next level. Milliner is versatile enough to play in man or zone schemes making him NFL ready the second he steps on the field.
Milliner signed a four-year contract with the Jets. He is still recovering from minor shoulder surgery last March and will need to pass a conditioning test first. He will compete against Kyle Wilson for the other available starting cornerback spot.
