The New York Jets are gearing up for what is expected to be a winning season.
After missing the playoffs again, he traded for future Hall of Fame quarterback Aaron Rodgers, while also bringing in two of his former wide receivers in Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb, as well as his old offensive coordinator, Nathaniel Hackett.
At 39 years old, Rodgers is probably in a slow decline and not as mobile as before, which means giving him excellent protection on the offensive line should be a priority for New York.
He declined to take up the fifth-year option on offensive tackle Mekhi Becton, and recently tweeted that he deserves to be the team’s starting left tackle, fired back by head coach Robert Saleh.
“Go earn left tackle,” Saleh said. “Competition.”
Saleh recently said that the starting tackle spot on both sides of the offensive line would be an open contest, which apparently led to Becton’s comment.
11 overall in 2020, when he started 13 of the 14 games in which he appeared, but he was sidelined for almost all of the 2021 season and the entirety of 2022 with a cartilage injury to his knee and a fracture to his right missed out on kneeling, respectively.
Becton played three years of college football at the University of Louisville, and he earned a first-team All-ACC nod for the 2019 campaign.
The Jets will need to make sure their offensive line is solid, or else what looks to be a promising 2023 season could turn out to be a huge disappointment.
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