If the Jets offensive line is 16th-20th in the league this year it's light-years ahead of where it was. And I think it will be honestly. We have NFL calibre players along the line now. We had 2 at most last year at any given time and musical chairs all season with guys like McDermott and Brandon Shell seeing more time than they should ever see on an NFL field.
I think our offensive line is a C+ to B. We have a few average guys and one potential stud. Thatbcombo could make a really good unit.
These rankings might mean more when comparing teams with returning players. The Jets are bringing only 4 offensive starters back, in Sam Darnold, Jamison Crowder, and Alex Lewis. And Lewis was only a starter for part of the year last year. Mekhi Becton, Connor McGovern, Greg Van Roten/Cameron Clark, George Fant, Denzel Mims, Breshad Perriman, and Chris Herndon are all essentially new players for the offense.
The Jets will have those three (Darnold, Crowder, and Lewis), plus Herndon and Bell, so they'll actually have 5 starters back on offense. Not much better, but at least a little better. There will only be 2 new starters on D.
I forgot to say Bell but that’s why I said 4. I include Herndon as a new starter because he only played a few snaps for the entire year.
But he was the starter in 2018, and the only reason he wasn't the starter last year was the suspension and injuries. IMO he should be included as a returning starter, rather than as a new starter.
2018 was a different offense, and considering Herndon played 31.8% of snaps in 2018 and 2019 combined, anything you say about him is as much projection as a draft pick, and even more of a projection than free agents like Connor McGovern. Call him a returning starter if you want, but nothing about his circumstances look like a returning starter.
Yes, I realize that there was a different offense and HC in 2018. Gase was counting on Herndon to be a starter last year after Herndon's showing his rookie season and the chemistry he had developed with Sam. I'm sure that Gase has him as his starter this year as well, unless he gets injured. To say that he is as much a projection as a draft pick is utter nonsense and ridiculous imo! If you seriously think that Griffin is going to be the starter and/or that nothing about Herndon's circumstances look nothing like a returning starter, then I don't know what to tell you.
Isn't Griffin still recovering from off season surgery? I think I read somewhere he "hoped" to be ready for the season. Jet fan,off-season hype talk tells me Herndon is going to have a big year