Despite being healthy for all of one game over the past two seasons, Mekhi Becton voiced a strong stance against playing right tackle again. The Jets moved Becton from left to right tackle ahead of training camp last year, sliding George Fant to the right side. After Becton’s second major knee injury, the team signed Duane Brown, whose contract runs through 2023.
Although injuries affected the Jets’ tackle situation throughout 2022, Brown started 12 games on the left side. Becton has lost more than 45 pounds this offseason and has not been shy about his push to become Gang Green’s left tackle again. Brown, however, remains on the roster and would be the best bet to stay on the left side. He does not sound too eager to change positions this late in his career.
“It’s not something I’ve practiced over the years,” Brown said of a right tackle role, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “Not to say I can’t do it, but I’ve been solidified [at left tackle] for a while.”
Even after the Jets proclaimed Fant their left tackle starter last summer, the team moved him to the right side upon signing Brown. The 37-year-old blocker is tied to a two-year, $20MM deal. Fant is a free agent, but the Jets also signed Billy Turner, who has now followed OC Nathaniel Hackett from Green Bay to Denver to New York. The team was believed to be eyeing Georgia tackle Broderick Jones in Round 1, but the Steelers (via the Patriots) drafted him 14th overall. That development keeps the Brown-Becton situation a front-burner matter in New York.
Brown is also recovering from offseason rotator cuff surgery, with Cimini adding the 16th-year veteran did not confirm he would be ready in time for training camp. (Becton is expected to be ready by the start of camp.) The former Texans and Seahawks blocker is the league’s oldest active O-lineman and has made 215 career starts. That ranks in the top 10 in NFL history. Each of those starts came at left tackle. Pro Football Focus assigned Brown, who was playing through injury last year, his worst grade as a pro in 2022. The former Houston first-rounder ranked just inside the top 70 among tackles, placing him near the bottom among regulars at the position.
The Jets can save just more than $9MM by releasing Brown, though Becton’s injury history and Turner having missed half of last season might prompt Robert Saleh and Co. to insist the veteran stays as Aaron Rodgers begins his New York run. Rodgers’ contract will likely soon be addressed, as his cap number presently sits at a deceiving $1.2MM. Brown and Corey Davis — who respectively are tied to the second- and third-largest Jets cap numbers this year — may still reside as potential cut candidates. Both remain in place, however, and the Jets have insisted Davis — despite cut rumors — is in their 2023 plans.
As Brown continues his shoulder rehab, he is set to re-enter an unusual situation. Becton’s pointed comments at the coaching staff have injected drama into the team’s tackle picture, and Saleh said right tackle may still be in the cards for the irked blocker. This matter will not be resolved until training camp, as neither Brown nor Becton are ready to return to work yet.
Billy Turner is not really an attractive option in lieu of either Brown or Becton, no matter how injury riddled their respective histories may be. Becton may not like it, but it appears that he will be playing on the right side again unless Brown is injured. I would not expect Brown to sign an extension, and unless I am remembering incorrectly, Becton should have another year following this one on his deal.
I’d expect Brown to play this at left tackle, the Jets to select another player or possibly two (if Becton disappoints) the next year at that spot, and Becton to compete for the left spot in his final year. Unless Becton absolutely craters this year, I think that his opportunity on the left side won’t come until then.
The Jets declined Becton’s fifth year option so this is it for him. Time for him to put up or shut up
Thanks for the info. Prospects don’t look good for an extended stay, then. I get why it happened, but it certainly doesn’t seem helpful to Becton that he’ll be doing that at an unnatural position. Regardless, if he can pull it off, it will give him added versatility. I personally don’t see that happening. It would have been good to have been able to draft a prospect at that spot this year. Rodgers IS 39, after all.
He basically needs to beat out Duane Brown for the LT position. Billy Turner is a more natural fit at RT than either of them.
True, but Turner is a pretty low quality replacement as well, and is not a full time starting type of player either. It was good to see to see New York select a tackle with another pick, especially after losing out on Jones to Pittsburgh. Warren should get a chance to compete for that spot, given the uncertainty, but his name not being mentioned suggests that he is not ready. Perhaps he could be, and it would seem prudent to find that out. I don’t know enough about him as a player to say.
I would expect to see the Jets move pieces around their line this year no matter who ends up winning that job. As for Becton, I would consider this to be possibly be the last chance he has to try to win a Day One starting job, in New York or elsewhere. Doubtless he’ll be signed at the end of year, but to what capacity is squarely in question.