Denzel Mims barely even warmed the bench during his first two NFL seasons, but New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas said the wide receiver seems ready to bring the heat this season.
“He's come back really on fire,” Douglas said in an interview Tuesday on WFAN.
The Jets GM noted Mims is in “great shape” and has impressed during voluntary offseason workouts at the team's facility in Florham Park, NJ:
“Look, it's so cliche, but if Denzel, and really all of our younger guys, they keep stacking the days, keep putting in the work, good things are going to happen,” Douglas said. “And the last two-plus weeks there's been a lot of good days stacked together (by Mims).”
Douglas is not the only one who believes Mims, who traveled to Arizona to work with quarterback Zach Wilson during the spring, is setting himself up for a big season.
Denzel Mims will be among the group of Jets WRs who are getting together with QB Zach Wilson in Arizona next week. Next step in a big offseason for Mims.
— Brian Costello (@BrianCoz) April 1, 2022
Chad Marr, Mims' personal trainer in Texas, expressed the same to Brian Costello of the New York Post in April:
“Put your money on this guy because he's going to have amazing year,” Marr said. “You're going to be really happy with what you see.”
Mims, of course, has spent more time on the sidelines fighting the “bust” label than making plays on the field the past two seasons.
He played nine games as a rookie second-round pick out of Baylor in 2020 and caught 23 passes on 44 targets. Last season, he had severe food poisoning that caused him to lose 20 pounds before training camp and then missed time during the season with COVID-19. He finished with eight receptions on 23 targets and never gained the trust of offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, even when injuries to Corey Davis and Elijah Moore thinned an underwhelming group of wide receivers.
The 24-year-old has yet to score a touchdown in the NFL after piling up 28 in his final three years in college, including 12 as a senior.
Listed as 6-foot-3 and 207 pounds, Mims has the size, speed and strength to be a go-to target for Wilson, though that has clearly yet to materialize. In fact, Mims will head to camp this summer fighting for a roster spot after New York selected Ohio State wideout Garrett Wilson with the No. 10 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and resigned the dependable Braxton Berrios to go with Davis and Moore.
Douglas, though, mentioned Mims in the same breath as Wilson and Moore, who was selected in the second round of the draft last season, as young receivers to build the offense around:
Joe Douglas made it clear to @TikiandTierney: The main goal of the offseason was to get better around Zach Wilson pic.twitter.com/71CtkeCXrR
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) May 3, 2022
“Taking Garrett here at 10, we now have high investments at young wide receivers in terms of two second-round picks and a first-round pick, and excited to have those three young guys in the building that can group together with our young quarterback,” Douglas said.
The Jets' draft class in 2020, Douglas' first as GM, has been something of a disappointment, so far. Tackle Mekhi Becton, New York's first-round pick in 2020, dislocated his right kneecap in the first game last season, was expected to miss 4-8 weeks and is “still rehabbing, still getting healthy,” according to Douglas.
The hope is players like Mims and Becton can turn things around and help the Jets turn things around as a team after a long stretch of rough football.
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