There’s an elephant in the New York Jets offensive line room. And it’s getting larger by the day.
As joint practices continue between the Jets and Panthers, the weakness of New York’s offensive line continues to be shown. Over the last week, both starting tackles Max Mitchell and Billy Turner have struggled to consistently protect the Jets’ franchise quarterback. It’s a problem that came to a head on Wednesday.
“I sensed frustration from everybody — everybody on the O-line, the coaches, Aaron. You can’t go three-and-out in a two-minute drive like that,” center Connor McGovern said. “I think there was disappointment from the whole team.”
Luckily for New York, their solution is already on the roster, and the way he’s performed over the last two weeks has made a difficult situation awkward.
Mekhi Becton may not have full trust in his knee according to his coaching staff, but the 24-year-old first-round pick is certainly no longer playing with any limitation to his game. During Wednesday’s practice, Becton reportedly pancaked a defender on a running play and was stout in team sessions. Working only with the second team since training camp began, Becton’s improved play has been hard to miss over the last several weeks.
Yet with Becton’s play improving, and snaps with the first-team continuously going to other players, the awkward questions have begun to creep up.
Why won’t the Jets play their best offensive tackle with the first team in practice?
There are, of course, several factors as to why the Jets have been more than patient with their former first-round pick. Becton hasn’t played in a regular-season football game in over two years. How his knee would hold up playing a full game is a paramount concern to the organization – even if he is a free agent following the 2023 season. It also doesn’t help that several practices have seen Becton exit team sessions early without any apparent issue.
While all those concerns are reasons why Becton has not received chances with the first team, the longer New York waits patiently for him to be 100%, the longer it’s evident that he’s one of the only chances the Jets have of fielding a competent starting offensive line this season.
The longer Gang Green waits to make a move, the bigger the risk for the team once the season starts. If Becton were to begin getting first-team reps now, he would be better prepared for the speed that starting defensive linemen use to gain an edge. The longer he has to wait, the harder it will be for him to acclimate to that speed. It’s essentially a case of the Jets putting whoever starts at tackle in a position to fail in Week One against the might of Von Miller, Greg Rousseau, and Shaq Lawson.
The current starters aren’t good enough and the backups who aren’t getting an opportunity yet may not have enough time to acclimate themselves accordingly.
As much as fans and coaches love players like Max Mitchell, it’s been very clear that Becton has been the better of the two tackles throughout the last few weeks. It certainly sets up for an awkward situation, but the longer the Jets’ second-team offensive line outperforms the starters, the more obvious it becomes that New York’s better players aren’t in the starting lineup.
That must change immediately if the Jets are going to get the most out of an Aaron Rodgers-led group.
