Written by Glenn Naughton
The New York Jets have shown in recent years that they’re willing to roll the dice on a player who may not have cut his teeth at the linebacker position but may be able to make a transition over time. This evidenced by the drafting of college safeties Jamien Sherwood and Hamsah Nasirildeen just a couple of seasons ago with a plan to have them make that very switch.
Moving from safety to linebacker is one thing, but to do from the quarterback position? That’s an entirely different ballgame, and exactly the path current linebacker Chazz Surratt has taken up to this point.
A collegiate quarterback at the University of North Carolina, Surratt swapped from running an offense, to trying to slow one down. Somewhat unique to Surratt’s experience is how his position switch came about.
More times than not when we learn of a position swap, it comes as a result of the player being approached by coaches and told what benefits could await if a change were to go down. In the case of Surratt, with highly rated QB Sam Howell joining the Tar Heels and appreciating what North Carolina was building, he approached head coach Mack Brown to request a switch to linebacker. Needless to say, the switch paid off.
Despite being new to the position, the athletic Surratt racked up 207 tackles (115 solo), 12.5 sacks and 22 tackles for loss in two seasons. That led to Surratt being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings who had little patience for Surratt to develop and cut him loose after just one pro season. Surratt would then land with the Jets who have worked on developing the young linebacker and the early returns were good this past Thursday night.
Against the Browns, Surratt logged 8 tackles and an interception despite leaving the game early with a tender hamstring. Being desperate for quality depth at the position, Surratt’s long journey from QB to linebacker may finally be complete.
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