Although the QB play forthe Jets this year was atrocious much of it can be blamed on the OL. Fant and Mcgovern are free agents this year and I don't see the Jets resigning them. Tomlinson will probably be cut for cap space as well. The bottom line is the Jets are going to have to rebuild their offensive line. Because of this I don't see JD making a trade for a QB that will most likely require us to give up our 1st round pick. So more than likely will go into the season with Wilson and White who I think the Jets will resign. If the Jets pick Paris Johnson in the 1st round that means will have (hoping Becton comes back) AVT, Becton and Johnson. Will still need to fill the guard space and center. So the OL is going to be a work in progress which doesnt portend wiell for the Jets. I don't know which guards or centers are fee agents this year but it is going to cost the Jets alot to rebuild the OL.
Most of the teams around the league right now do not have good offensive lines. Only a few teams do. It is not always an excuse for poor qb play. Look at Burrows line and Allen’s line…. Atrocious. Yet they are still the best qbs in the league. I wouldn’t let that stop me from finding a franchise qb, whether that’s trading for one or drafting one.
I wouldn’t say “much of it is to blame on the offensive line.” And the protection in the middle of the season was decent in the sense that it’s about what the rest of the league gets - take a good play or bad play here or there. Either way though, it’s time for the Jets to go get a big time offensive lineman at one of the spots to pair with AVT. We also need a big time center really badly. When I say big time, I’m talking about a really smart center. I wanted the Jets to find a way to get Biadasz, Humphrey or Linderbaum in each of the past drafts. Why? Because they all played tons of college football. McGovern has been OK as a blocker but we need a guy to make the line calls and recognize the blitz for a youthful QB. For whatever reason, he has been terrible at that.
Atrocious is a gross exaggeration for both. That adjective could be used for Burrow’s last year. And I understand Allen’s mobility helps against free runners and bad offensive lineman getting beat, but you don’t get to say it’s atrocious in pass protection when he’s been top ten in least sacked in back to back years. Still - I agree with your point. Offensive line play can be covered by quarterbacks with a good feel for the pocket and understand where they’re going to face free runners and have hot reads.
Not to derail the topic, but I would say the reason he’s one of the least sacked qb is because he escapes the sacks altogether and throws lasers, and also the defense can’t get him down. It’s a lot of that and not so much that the bills have a good line. They definitely don’t.
I get it, but it’s the old Ben Roethlisberger argument. His offensive line always seemed worse in pass protection than it was because he held onto the ball for an eternity and couldn’t be tackled. It’s not a brick wall, but he’s been fine back there.
There are levels to the OLine incompetence. It's easy to say other teams don't have good OLine either, but to put things into perspective one must understand how bad the Jets OLine is in comparison to others. I don't pretend to watch and study all the details of the OLines around the League, but let's take an independent source that does and look at the comparison. According to PFF, Fant is 76th out of 80 qualified tackles in the League, Brown 69th, and Mitchell 71st. Also, when we say 80 qualified, obviously there are 64 starters, and some other bottom feeders filled in, played some games to spell starters and were later replaced by the starters. In the Jets case, these are the guys that got pretty much all tackle snaps for the Jets aside from a couple of games from AVT before he got hurt. Please, let's not pretend that compared to this other teams are "also bad". No - this level of Tackle incompetence is historically bad and far and away exceeds every other team. Guards are no much better. Tomlinson is 58th of 79 and Herbig is 52nd. Both bottom 3d including the subs that got some playing time. The only guy who is rated decent is our Center - McGovern - who is 11th of 39. And even he is terrible at making line calls, but you can't really evaluate that part, so it is not reflected in PFF grade. The bottom line is, it's just not adequate analysis to say that most teams do not have good O Lines. Jets one is terrible even compared to these no so good ones. Wilson was always on the run, statue Flacco got blasted, and White injured twice. I guess the only good news is that because our line is so bad, pathetic scrubs that are behind the starters that are about to play on Sunday are not much worse than the guys that were in front of them.
Tomlinson was a horrible signing. Keeping him on the team next year for short term cap reasons would be a mistake. We need to cut him so that he won't be on the books in 2024. Becton and AVT were both first round picks and could be solid if they stay healthy. AVT has shown the flexibility to play multiple positions including LT (although playing out of position may have lead to his injury). Mitchell was a fourth round pick who got some snaps at RT. If nothing else he gives us depth at the position. Not sure if he could I would like to bring back McGovern and Herbig if the price is right. As I believe in drafting BPA I think we need to fix the line in free agency and not force anything in the draft. If we could shake Tunsil loose from the Texans I would be all for it.
I get what you are saying, but any analyst will tell you that right now the pass rushers in the nfl are much better than the offensive linemen, and there are way more of them than good offensive linemen, which is why it’s a struggle in the draft every year because more team need linemen than there are linemen. It is very disproportionate. It seems like every week the bills play a defense that has both an edge guy and an interior guy that is extremely disruptive. At that point it doesn’t matter whether your linemen are graded 20th or 52nd, they’re not stopping those guys.
You're not going to be able to put a OL together, that can protect the stiffs the Jets have at QB, try watching other teams, not many QBs have all day to throw the ball
What do you mean it does not matter 20th or 52nd? The one that's graded 20th has a much better pass pro and run game. It's almost like a difference between AVT (13th) and Herbig (52nd). For example, here is the article that talks about run blocking for the team: https://jetsxfactor.com/2023/01/06/ny-jets-best-worst-run-blockers-2022/ . Very significant difference, and it is not close. And 52nd rated was our best rating among 4 starting Gs and Ts, others are much worse. Look, let's not trivialize things here. When we have all Guards and Tackles as 20 or above rated and your team has 52nd or below, including a few below 70, then let's see if it does not matter.
Unfortunately you are right. We are stuck with this expensive sack of shit. I hope he can be closer to average next year with a better Left Tackle next to him like in SF before with kick him the balls in 2024.
I would prefer not to pay his salary for another year when we could save that money and clear up a roster spot.
By any measure, whether it’s stats or eye test, I think we can all agree that our OL has been among the worst, say bottom 25%, in the league. Especially after AVT got hurt, it was noticeably worse. it needs to be fixed. ASAP. I’m a JD supporter but also realistic enough to criticize him for the state of the OL. In his first year or two, he went for 2nd/3rd tier free agency guys…like Lewis, like GVR, like Khalil out of retirement….and at the time I figured he was doing this because he knew the team wasn’t very good and didn’t want to spend money when the rest of the team wasn’t up to it. He went draft, and I didn’t blame him for Becton at the time because he didn’t have an injury history in college and he was a dominant physical specimen…I was OK with the pick. I didn’t mind the trade up for AVT too much either, and he has proven to be a very good player. however, I DO blame JD for relying on Becton to be a starter when we now had two years of evidence that he was an injury risk and should not be counted on. Especially when Fant was ALSO coming off injury. The approach to the OL this offseason I did not like. so now he has a huge hole to fix on OL. I’m excited to see how he does it, but he’s gotta fix it. No more counting on Becton. We need two starting tackles pretty much, unless you pencil in AVT at RT and resign Herbig at RG (which I would be ok with), and then go get a real LT and C. We’re probably stuck with Tomlinson due to contract but with a stable LT he may be ok next year…he’s proven to be a pro bowl caliber player in the past so he may play better next year with stability around him. but realitiscally I think we need a true LT and probably another above average starter somewhere on the line to improve it, assuming AVT can come back to his pro bowl level performance next year. I would keep Becton as a backup swing tackle but I don’t want to see him pencilled in to start 17 games because I don’t think he can.
Becton is done for all intents and purposes. The best you can count on for him is to be a backup that pleasantly surprises and works his way back as a starter. You can’t count on a guy that missed 2 straight seasons and has major motivation issues on keeping his weight down. We need a bonafide LT. Ugh it’s actually disgusting when you think about it, AVT is out only worthwhile lineman. Thanks Joe Douglas!!
At the minimum, draft an OT. We don't know if Becton can come back from missing most of the last 2 years and the other options are aging FA's. I'm not opposed to bringing back McGovern for another year as he's been durable and replacing multiple OL every offseason isn't ideal for the unit. If only the FO listened to Kurt and took Creed Humphrey in 2021.
