The Alternative OL Option

Edition #816

☀️ Good Morning ☕

We’ve finally had a couple of days of sunshine over on these shores and with spring baseball in full flow, it’s all about new beginnings and fresh starts.

NFL free agency is under a week away and you can almost guarantee that Mougey, Glenn and co have drawn up their strategy with plans A all the way through to Z.

It’s always interesting heading into free agency with a new regime who have never held the reigns of power before. We can guess at Mougey’s roster building strategy based on what he witnessed in Denver under Paton, but that’s what it is, a guess.

When you hold the final veto/approval vote, it changes things.

We’ve spent the early portion of the week looking at the NFL draft, but that’s going to take a backseat for a couple of weeks now as we look to potential signings and then profile the eventual signings. I’m really looking forward to the next two weeks and I hope you guys are too.

🟢 The Jets have really started their preparation for free agency. The Jets released wide receiver Davante Adams in a move we knew was coming, and they also gave Lazard permission to seek a trade, although if we’re being honest that’s very unlikely and the Jets will probably end up cutting him. There’s a new Sheriff in town and he’s cleaning house.

🟢 PFF had an interesting look at teams tendencies to double-dip at positions. Over the last three drafts, the Jets are one of 14 teams to not double-dip. However in my mind that’s probably going to change this year. DT, S and TE are all positions that the Jets could decide to double-dip at. Interestingly for the sake of Mougey, the Broncos have also not double-dipped at a single position over the last three drafts. The Lions on the other hand have done it twice in three years, first with edges Hutchinson and Paschal in 2022, and then in 2024 with CBs Arnold and Rakestraw Jr.

🟢 Connor Hughes had his post-combine notes out yesterday and he had the following to say on two pending Jets free agents: “Tight end Tyler Conklin isn't expected to return. Neither is cornerback D.J. Reed, who one team told me was their top-ranked cornerback entering free agency.” Neither is overly surprising to me. He did also state that the Jets have shown interest in retaining Isaiah Oliver and linebacker Jamien Sherwood. So we’ll see how this all plays out. Just to note he also confirmed that he doesn’t get the sense the Jets are working to trade to the top of the draft for a QB.

🟢 The Athletic’s Zack Rosenblatt belies that Thomas Morestead could be a name to watch as a potential cap casualty heading into free agency. The Jets could save $2.55 million in cap space with a $500,000 dead hit if they release him. Morestead has been productive and consistent for the Jets and last time we moved on from him it didn’t work out so well for us.

If the Quarterback is the most important position in football, the shogun of the franchise then the offensive line represent the Daimyo, or the feudal lords who helped keep things running smoothly.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the offensive line. We spoke recently about how the Jets have 4/5ths of the line in place with just the right tackle missing (piece ⬇️).

Almost a Full House

In that piece I looked through the options at tackle in free agency and the draft. Free agency being extremely light and the draft being potentially loaded. I use that word “potentially” because with prospects you just never know.

I can see a world where the Jets draft a tackle in either the first or second round, believing that doing so will solidify their line for the next 5-6 years.

But with so many holes to fill and only a limited amount of ammunition to do it, could the Jets work through an alternative strategy for filling that right tackle position.