Offensive Line: Resource Central
Edition #141
🌟Good Morning!
Yesterday we took a deep dive into Jermaine Johnson, if you missed that one you can still read it by clicking HERE.
If you’re new to TJW you may have missed some of the previous ones but all are available to read:
Sauce Gardner - Edition #132
Garrett Wilson - Edition #126
Micheal Clemons - Edition #137
Breece Hall - Edition #129
I’ll be posting up the poll later today for the next deep dive, so make sure you’re following me over on Twitter.
✍️ Jeremy Ruckert officially signed his rookie contract with the Jets and his Dad got that J-E-T-S chant going in the conference room, not sure I’ve ever seen that before. What a legend and what a thrill to have your son playing for your favorite team.
✍️ The Jets announced that they had re-signed D.J Montgomery a week after releasing him. To make room for him on the roster, the Jets released Rodney Adams. Adams was signed to a reserve/future contract in January after spending the majority of the 2021 season with the Chicago Bears practice squad.
👍 League owners approved a change to rosters in the pre-season. Reductions to 85 players after the first preseason game, 80 after the second game, and 53 after the third game.
💥 Quinnen Williams is in line for a new contract but that's not something he's focusing on right now - "Money is not a big thing on my heart or my mind. I just want to be the best football player I can be."
🚨 Don’t look now and it’s only OTA’s, but Jason Pinnock has apparently been getting starter reps with the defense at free safety over LaMarcus Joyner. Pinnock transitioned from corner to safety at the back-end of the 2021 season and put up a couple of strong showings, so this is one to watch in 2022.
🌉 Former Jet Tyler Kroft has signed a one-year deal with the San Francisco 49’ers to add depth to the TE room behind George Kittle. Kroft only appeared in 9 games for the Jets in 2021 making 16 receptions for 173 yards and one touchdown. Before joining the Jets, Kroft had been with AFC East rivals the Buffalo Bills.
🛌 Bleacher Report ranked the Jets as one of their top-5 sleeper teams for the 2022 NFL Season, noting the similarities between New York and last year’s Super Bowl runners-up, the Cincinnati Bengals. Most of that is around Zach Wilson and the kind of jump he makes in year two.
👋 Former Jets QB James Morgan was waived by the Indianapolis Colts yesterday after the AFC South team signed Nick Foles. The 125th overall pick in the 2020 draft has yet to throw a pass in an NFL game and has bounced around the league since the Jets released him last August. It was a strange pick when the Jets made it.
🎯 Zach Wilson’s little brother Isaac got some rave reviews this past weekend at a 7-on-7 camp. The youngest of the Wilson children, Isaac showed off a cannon for an arm reminiscent of his brother. He’ll be in the class of 2024 and already holds offers from BYU, Miami, Oregon, San Jose State, Arizona, Oregon State, Idaho State, and Weber State, with plenty sure to follow.
Offensive Line - Less Offensive
Can you remember the starting offensive line from the regular-season finale in Buffalo back in 2019?
I was struggling to piece that all together, so I went to have a look. Jonotthan Harrison, Brent Qvale, Conor McDermott, Kelvin Beachum, and Brandon Shell.
Ouch!
Harrison hasn’t played a single game since that season finale. Qvale started 3 games for Houston in 2020 and then spent 2021 on the Titans practice squad. We all know about McDermott who is firmly planted as a back-up with the Jets now, Beachum is starting with Arizona and Shell is starting with Seattle, neither are considered to be good starters, but neither are rated poorly.
Joe Douglas’s job to reinvent this line was a sizeable task, but heading into 2022 that task is largely complete…if all goes to plan.
I first started writing about the Jets around 2007 for Bleacher Report, before moving to Gang Green Nation in 2009. That 2009 team was one of my favorite rosters to write about, and a lot of it came down to the offensive line, they weren’t just good…they were dominant.
D’Brickashaw Ferguson, Alan Faneca, Nick Mangold, Brandon Moore, and Damien Woody. Those were the days when you could rely on your line to both open lanes for the running backs and provide time for the QB to work through his reads.
That was a seasoned line with plenty of veteran experience and while we don’t have the same makeup in 2022, we do have all the building blocks to have a dominant line once again, and it’s taken considerable resources to get there.
But if you look back at that offensive line from 2009, that also took considerable resources.
Ferguson was the 4th overall pick in the 2006 draft, and Mangold the 29th overall pick in the same class. Faneca was given a huge 5-year $40 million deal which made him the highest-paid lineman at the time, and then the Jets gave Damien Woody $25.5 million over five years. All four of those players were first-round picks originally. Brandon Moore a UDFA out of Illinois was the only player who didn’t cost a lot initially, although he did go on to sign a 4-year deal worth $16 million in 2009.
Let’s just refresh our memory on how Joe Douglas has assembled the 2022 offensive line, which looks to be one of the better offensive lines the Jets have put together for a long time.
As Pro Football Hall of Fame guard, Russ Grimm said: “The success I had as a player, or the career I had as a player, is often based on the guys you play beside, the guys you play with. Playing on the offensive line, you're only as good as your weakest guy up front. I was blessed to play with a lot of guys for a long time.”
George Fant - Starting Tackle
Signed a 3-year $30 million contract in April 2020.
2022 Cap Number: $11.1 million - 14th highest paid LT in 2022.
Fant was brought in with the intention of playing left tackle. Many thought Joe Douglas had panicked after losing out on Jack Conklin and Graham Glasgow signed elsewhere. Fast-forward a couple of years and Fant’s contract looks like a bargain if he can maintain his performance from 2021. Fant allowed just 1 sack and 18 total pressures over 594 pass-blocking snaps, and while not a dominant run-blocker his pass protection skills will get him paid. The Jets have discussed a contract extension with Fant this off-season, but so far they’ve been unable to reach an agreement.
Laken Tomlinson - Starting Left Guard
Signed a 3 year $40 million contract in March 2021
2022 Cap Number: $5.4 million - 9th highest paid LG in 2022.
Offensive guard play was an obvious weakness for the Jets during the 2021 season. GVR was much-maligned for his play, well before he decided to question Zach Wilson’s internal clock and he was eventually replaced by Laurent Duvernay-Tardif. The signing of LDT improved the play to around league average but the signing of Laken Tomlinson elevates the guard play considerably. Tomlinson has familiarity with the system and he was rated as the 12th best guard in football by PFF last year. He’s a better run-blocker than pass protector but he’s a well-rounded prospect.
Connor McGovern - Starting Center
Signed a 4 year $27 million contract in April 2020
2022 Cap Number: $10.3 million - 3rd highest paid C in 2022.
Connor McGovern has been heavily criticized by Jets fans historically, but statistically, he was a good center last year, while playing between a rookie and GVR. McGovern was rated as the 8th best center in the league. He allowed 4 sacks on the season but only 1 in his final 7 games. He also opened up holes for the running backs, and I’m confident his play will be elevated playing next to Laken and with AVT in year two. McGovern likely doesn’t deserve to be the 3rd highest-paid center and that’s where some friction arrives, but while the Jets have the cap space I’m not too concerned.
Alijah Vera-Tucker - Starting Right Guard
Drafted 14th overall in the 2021 NFL Draft
2022 Cap Number: $3.6 million - 17th highest paid RG in 2022.
The Jets were aggressive in moving up for AVT in the 2021 draft and they were also heavily criticized for moving up for an offensive guard. For the most part, those critiques looked wide of the mark, AVT put some dominant run-blocking tape on his resume but there are areas for improvement in the pass-blocking game. AVT only allowed 2 sacks all season, but he did allow 42 pressures which was ranked 65th in the NFL. Coach Saleh said today that OTA’s are all about what happens above the shoulders in terms of getting the technique down and the mentality. Expect a big jump from AVT this year.
Mekhi Becton - Starting Tackle
Drafted 11th overall in the 2020 NFL Draft
2022 Cap Number: $5.0 million - 12th highest paid RT in 2022.
Here is the biggest x-factor for the Jets’ success in 2022. Becton lost a season to an unfortunate injury against Carolina and the narrative around him has spiraled out of control. The best way to reverse a narrative is to perform on the field and Becton will get the chance to bounce back in a big way in 2022 after the Jets decided to bypass taking a tackle in the first couple of rounds. I personally think Becton will start on the right side of the line and do a fine job, he just needs to stay healthy. Some of that will be in his hands in terms of preparation and some of it is just pure luck. In 2020 Becton put some dominant run-blocking on tape and his 23 pressures allowed was a top 20 number, the sacks were an issue (7), but some of that was out of his control.
Overall - Joe Douglas has revitalized the Jets line, all five starters for 2022 weren’t on the roster as the clock ticked down in Buffalo back in 2019. The sky is the limit for this unit, but good offensive line play takes repetition and consistency in terms of all playing together. But there’s a reason Joe Douglas has spent so many resources to address it and I’ll let former coach Mike Tice explain it:
“If you look at the offense like a fancy car, the offensive line is the engine. Even though we might have nice spinners and nice rims and tinted windows and some neat paint job, it doesn't mean crap without the engine. If the engine's not working, the car might look like a pretty nice car, but it's a piece of crap”
Robert Saleh Sees Confident, Decisive Zach Wilson as Jets OTAs Begin - "You'll see him," the second-year HC said of his second-year QB, Zach Wilson. "He looks good, he looks confident, his shoulders are back, he's not caved in. He's confident, he's smiling, he's vocal. You can always tell the confidence level and their understanding of what they're being asked to do by the volume of their voice. And he's getting pretty loud."
Why Sauce Gardner can quickly become an ‘elite’ NFL CB | NY Jets Film - “The man the kid call “Sauce” not only brings a swaggerish personality to the Big Apple, but he also delivers the goods (not just canned goods). The New York Jets‘ newest young cornerback has the traits and the head to become an elite NFL cornerback, and his collegiate tape showcases exactly why that’s the case.”
Offensive Line depth throughout the NFL, is just plain Offensive. 17 games is a long season. Most of us cringe when we think of Connor McDermott playing especially at LT. But Douglas may be developing a pipeline. Consider rookie Max Mitchell, and second year UNDFA ‘s, Parker Ferguson & Grant Hermann as possibilities. Dan Feeney with a late surge last year, earned a contract this year, with a small haircut, is an adequate backup Center. Herzig doesn’t seem to be an athletic fit , for this Offense, but seems to be an upgrade at Backup OG. Finally , there is the very unpopular Chuma Edoga in the last year of his contract. Chuma was hurt a lot, and has done very little but he has had spurts. This is Edoga’s second year in the system, Chuma’s skill set is a perfect match for this Offensive System, hoping he becomes an adequate Swing Tackle.