Position Overview: Interior OL

Edition #1118:

Good Morning ☕

Apologies that this is a little later than usual but with all these 11pm, 2am and 5am work starts, my internal clock is about as accurate as Zach Wilson.

But I woke up with a smile this morning having seen England impress on their way to a 4-2 win over #11 ranked Croatia. That’s our toughest game out of the way, although based on what we’ve seen in this World Cup, underestimating the underdogs is a dangerous thing. Just ask Portugal who were ranked 5th in the world at the start of their game against the 43rd ranked DR Congo, that game finishes 1-1 and DR Congo were good for it as well. The minnows are roaring.

Today we’re going to take a quick look at the interior offensive line for the Jets. As Bobber mentioned yesterday we’re getting snippets of news leaking from camp, but I’m not sure how interested you are in Ponds intercepting Zappe in 7-on-7 drills or Mason Taylor dropping a TD from Geno. If these things are still happening 5 weeks from now, it’s time to start analysing. But for right now, I wouldn’t read too much into the practice notes.

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NEWS & NOTES 🗞️

• Aaron Glenn has been speaking about the Joe Tippmann extension. A good deal which doesn’t include guaranteed money in the final two years, which means for the Jets, it’s largely a 3-year deal with the potential to be more:

  • “You guys know that we signed (Joe) Tippmann, it was outstanding for us to get that done. What that does is stabilize our offensive line, builds continuity, something that I’ve always talked about when it comes to d-line and o-line is make sure you can do that, so we feel really good about that. It’s something we’ve been working

    on for awhile. And congratulations to him, too, getting that contract because he deserved it,”

• Glenn also had a comment about Tippmann’s willingness and team-first attitude when he was asked to move from centre to guard:

  • “Character, first and foremost, of a guy that was competing at the center spot, and that’s something that we’ve done with a number of guys is try to create competition. And once we had the injury to AVT (Alijah Vera-Tucker), man, he was more than willing to move over to the guard spot and just take on that job. And he didn’t complain, he didn’t say anything about it, only thing was ‘Coach, what do you need us to do,’ so he’s one of those guys that you want to be around for a long time just because how he is as a person and obviously how he is as a football player, so he’s taken on that role, did a damn good job for us, and the thing about it is he still has room to grow to be a better guard, so we’re looking forward to that going into next year,”

• Cade Klubnik was back on the field yesterday but he’s still not taking positional reps. Again it’s June, it’s not very important. But Cade said he had some real injury issues last year which hurt his performance, so it’s worth monitoring the days he has to sit on the side-lines.

• The Jets are the odds on favourite to land Sorsby in the supplemental draft and Yahoo Sports had some thoughts about that.

  • “Leave it to the New York Jets to get involved in a story like this. They signed veteran Geno Smith over the offseason and drafted Cade Klubnik out of Clemson, and yet, Gang Green is at the top of the list for teams considering Sorsby. Still, Smith is nothing more than a gap-filler, and Clubnik wasn’t screaming NFL franchise quarterback during his time in college. The need still exists.”

• Geno Smith is getting a lot of positive praise right now, from teammates, from Glenn and now from Frank Reich who had a glowing statement:

  • “I am just so impressed with Geno, I cannot express that enough,” offensive coordinator Frank Reich said Wednesday. “I know we haven’t played in games yet ... but, man, he is on point. His preparation is top-notch. His football mind is elite. ... I’ve been around a lot of really smart and good quarterbacks. I mean, he is -- all I’m going to say is we’re in good shape.”

• Good note from Rich Cimini on how the offensive tackles are having to adjust to a pocket passer this season:

  • “Left tackle Olu Fashanu said he and right tackle Armand Membou have had to adjust their pass-protection technique to account for Smith, who is more of a pocket passer than 2025 starter Justin Fields. As a result, they need to drill down on outside and inside rushes, Fashanu said.”

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Interior Offensive Line 🟢⚪🗽

How comfortable do I feel with the Jets interior offensive line?

Depending on the day of the week, my answer will shift significantly. It’s one of those position groups where I feel the ceiling could be quite high but the floor could also be quite low. The kind of position that worries me.

STARTERS: Dylan Parham, Josh Myers, Joe Tippmann

The Jets have their three starters settled. Dylan Parham at LG, Josh Myers at C and Joe Tippmann at RG.

Among the 67 offensive guards who had at least 500 snaps last season, here’s how the Jets starters ranked.

Dylan Parham (In Las Vegas)

Overall - 34/67
Pass Blocking - 41/67
Run Blocking - 34/67

Joe Tippmann

Overall - 28/67
Pass Blocking - 23/67
Run Blocking - 26/67

Two very respectable guards who right now are right around league average with Tippmann above league average and on the ascendency.