AUGUST 16: The Jets have placed Becton on IR as rosters are cut down to 85, per a club announcement. That confirms that Becton will indeed miss the entire 2022 campaign, as had been feared.
AUGUST 9: More official word has come down on Becton’s injury. He suffered an avulsion fracture of the right kneecap, according to Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (on Twitter). The injury, Becton’s second kneecap issue in less than a year, is expected to sideline the former first-round pick throughout the season. Becton will receive a second opinion Wednesday, but it looks like he will be out until 2023. Robert Saleh also conceded Becton will not play this season. The Jets have Brown on their radar, and the 14-year veteran is interested in a deal.
AUGUST 8: It’s gone from bad to worse for the Jets and right tackle Mekhi Becton. According to SNY’s Connor Hughes (on Twitter), Becton suffered a knee cap and patella injury that is expected to sideline him for at least a “chunk” of the 2022 campaign, if not the entire season.
According to Aaron Wilson ofProFootballNetwork.com (on Twitter), Becton suffered a “small chip-sized fracture” in his surgically repaired right knee. The lineman is set to undergo more tests to determine the true extent of his injured knee, but according to Hughes, the Jets are “bracing for the worst.”
The former first-round pick exited Jets practice today with the injury, but there wasn’t any initial cause for concern. Trainers described the injury as “stable,” and the MRI was merely precautionary and intended to confirm the original prognosis. However, that MRI ended up showing that the injury was far more troublesome than initially believed. In fact, there’s fear that Becton may have suffered additional damage beyond the knee cap and patella injuries, per Hughes (on Twitter).
This is poor timing for both Becton and the Jets. The lineman had already lost out on the left tackle competition to George Fant, but it sounds like the Jets were still committed to their former first-round pick as their right tackle. Ahead of an offseason decision about his fifth-year option, this was going to be a pivotal third year for Becton. The 11th-overall pick in the 2020 draft, Becton showed his potential in 14 games (13 starts) as a rookie. He suffered a dislocated kneecap and MCL damage during Week 1 of the 2021 campaign, knocking him out for the rest of the season.
Assuming the subsequent MRI confirms the Jets’ concerns, the front office may need to hustle to add a replacement. Backup Conor McDermott is currently sidelined with an ankle injury, and Chuma Edoga has yet to live up to his third-round billing through his first three seasons in the NFL. The Jets hosted Duane Brown last week, and while he left New York without a contract, ESPN’s Rich Cimini tweets that the veteran tackle is still on the organization’s radar. According to Hughes, the Jets already had Brown take a physical and meet with coaches, so it might not take long for the organization to ink the free agent to a contract.
Last I checked Spotrac, the Jets only had $3M left in cap space for the top 51 contracts. So, they probably can’t offer Brown much more than the minimum they gave Alexander.
Over the Cap says they have almost $9 million. Wonder what the discrepancy is.
I think you can designate money to injury and free up some cash when he hits IR.
This isn’t hockey. Your salary still counts against the cap on IR.
Ok I’m out on this guy. Good lord man he’s just never going to remain on the field
They should jump on Brown because he is better than Fant. Move Fant to RT and improve the OL.
Fant doesn’t play the right side well
The Jets will do something whacky like bring Ereck Flowers or Donald Penn in for a workout.
Looks like a total bust. He’s obviously not disciplined enough to either get himself in shape or has the desire to get into the shape that an NFL player needs to play 17 games. One can only imagine what he’ll weigh when he’s not able to workout for however long it takes to get over this injury. Well, at least McDonalds will be happy. This is where scouting is key to know the player and his habits and they totally fumbled on this guy.
This is on point. He either can’t help himself or doesn’t care enough to even stay close to in shape. He’s fat as a house, over 400+ lbs, and is there any wonder why he has knee problems? At least he stuck around to take the jets money and at least try to practice. The same can’t be said for Isaiah Wilson who went off the rails immediately. They’re both morons. Must be nice to make millions and do next to nothing. Hat tip to both front offices, job well done. I’ve heard of not living up to expectations but those 2 are in a league of their own as far as complete lack of effort, imo…
I think people are too quick to use this as an excuse to go after Becton’s character, but man it’s been curious from day one that Douglas was enamored with Becton over Wirfs. Falling in love with a guy because he’s a physical freak is a weird reason to take him over a guy who’s also a physical freak and has been better and more consistent the whole way through college.
This looks like this might be it for Bekhton’s long term future in New York. The Jets have let slip in the past some frustration with his conditioning and/or injury recovery. He may be a physical freak, but it seemed like this was his prove it year to them. Unfortunately he may be off the Jets’ radar for the future.
Brown is a veteran who could probably learn to play anywhere, but moving him to RT might be a waste of what will likely be a more expensive contract. It’s pretty late in the offseason to expect Fant to switch, though he has played RT before. There are other vets available at the right side, however (many with their own injury histories): Bulaga, Cannon, Remmers, Williams (Daryl), and Ty Nsekhe all remain unsigned and each would likely be cheaper than Brown.
I think that a recent comparison to watch would be OT Daniel Faalele from Minnesota. The Ravens drafted him in the 4th round and it will be interesting to see if his body can hold up.