The Jets‘ offensive tackle situation comes with a variety of question marks — not ideal when 39-year-old Aaron Rodgers is your quarterback and you only have about a two-year championship window.
Duane Brown (shoulder) is still on the PUP list, Mekhi Becton is working his way back from multiple knee injuries, and both Max Mitchell and Billy Turner have had rough training camps. Plus fourth-rounder Carter Warren is only a rookie.
This was heavily documented in Tuesday’s Hard Knocks episode, which included the Jets offensive line struggling in joint practices in Carolina and head coach Robert Saleh letting the unit hear about it. And now right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker (ankle) is day-to-day, so everything is in complete shambles.
There are still over three weeks until the season opener so there’s time to fortify this disaster, and there are few ways to do so:
Mekhi Becton. Becton believes he’s a left tackle. And only a left tackle. He even tweeted so (before deleting it) back in May.
But the Jets may need to put their foot down at some point.
Becton will start working at right tackle in Thursday’s practice per reports — maybe this becomes a regular thing if he picks up on the position quickly? The Jets having an option for just one of their tackle roles would be huge, and they would be doing it with one of the more talented guys in that room (despite his previous injuries). If Brown returns in time to play left tackle in the opener, this would also prevent the Jets from needing to decide between the struggling Mitchell and Turner for a crucial starting right tackle role.
This might be a far-fetched scenario, however. After all, Becton only played seven offensive snaps in the first preseason game before earning 27 offensive reps in the second. All at left tackle. So…maybe he gets considered for a starting spot there?
He hasn’t worked with the first-team offense, and who knows when he even will? But things may need to change — if Brown remains sidelined, the Jets may have no choice.
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AVT. Vera-Tucker is only day-to-day with his injury so the sheer hope is he’ll be ready for Week 1. And the Jets may need his services…at a different position though.
Vera-Tucker has experience playing on the exterior from his college days and also took snaps at tackle last season amid injuries to other players. It wouldn’t be ideal for the Jets to kick him out to right tackle given his potential as an interior lineman. But the coaching staff may hold no choice.
Vera-Tucker could be a much better option than anyone the Jets have right now. And it would allow the team to start both Joe Tippmann and Connor McGovern on the interior should both impress throughout the rest of the preseason.
In this scenario, the Jets could be trotting out an offensive line that includes Laken Tomlinson at left guard, Tippmann at center, McGovern at right guard, and Vera-Tucker at right tackle. With Brown hopefully back to man the blindside — but again, we’ll see with that one.
The others. And if Becton can’t play right tackle and the Jets want to keep Vera-Tucker inside (and/or if Brown isn’t activated), then the staff might not have a choice but to roll with Mitchell or Turner in the starting lineup.
Turner has experience in Nathaniel Hackett’s offense after the two were in Green Bay from 2019-21. And he simply has more pro experience altogether (nine seasons) than Mitchell (one season). So if there’s anyone to trust early on, it’s the veteran.
If Turner struggles, well, then the Jets at least have reinforcements (albeit not great reinforcements).
David Bakhtari. The Jets could swing a big preseason trade for the Packers’ star tackle, a former teammate of Rodgers and someone who they could afford given the quarterback’s recent $35 million paycut. The veteran (turning 32 in September) carries a $21.3 million cap hit this season and could be cut the following offseason for $21.4 million in cap savings (if this is just a one-year fix, which is definitely possible given the short championship window).
Of course, Bakhtiari is Green Bay’s starting left tackle and the Packers would need to eat more than $19 million in dead cap money by trading him. So general manager Joe Douglas would need to swing big here, possibly giving up as much as a late second-round pick in next year’s draft on top of additional draft capital.
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