New York Jets’ 2019 season in review: Chuma Edoga

Michael Nania looks to the film and numbers to review Chuma Edoga's 2019 rookie season with the New York Jets. Can he be a high-quality starter in 2020? Career recap: The Jets, at the time led by Mike Maccagnan, drafted Chuma Edoga with the 92nd overall pick in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft. Edoga, who entered the league following his true senior season, was a three-year starter at USC and spent time at both right and left tackle. He started alongside Sam Darnold in 2016 and 2017. Edoga was seen by scouts as a high-upside prospect with exciting traits that certainly made him a Day 2 candidate, but a few major question marks that lowered his floor. His athleticism, mobility, and hands were praised, but his footwork, functional strength, motor, and size (295 pounds) were seen as weaknesses. With Kelvin Beachum and Brandon Shell penciled-in to starting spots, Edoga was not expected to start right away upon arriving in Florham Park. He would compete for the opportunity to enter Week 1 as the backup swing tackle, but the team had the luxury of being patient with the 22-year old. Edoga enjoyed an excellent preseason in which he allowed just two pressures over 65 snaps in protection, ranking 22nd out of 91 qualified tackles in pass-blocking efficiency. He recorded reps like these two with regularity. Edoga went into the season as one of three reserve offensive linemen along with Jonotthan Harrison and Tom Compton. While Compton had played some tackle in the league before, he was a more natural fit on the inside, leaving Edoga as the next man up if Beachum or Shell went down. Positives: Shell had a poor start to the season, and was benched in favor of Edoga out of the bye week (Week 4) heading into the team's trip to Philadelphia. Edoga started at right tackle in Weeks 5 and 6, and then at left tackle from Weeks 7-9 after Beachum went down with an ankle injury. Once Beachum returned, Edoga moved back to right tackle, where he started from Weeks 10-12 until going down with a season-ending knee injury against the Raiders. While Edoga mostly struggled throughout his rookie season, he had plenty of bright flashes, especially against the star-studded defensive fronts of the Eagles and Cowboys. Edoga records a strong rep here against Brandon Graham, who is lined up out wide in a four-point stance. Edoga gets a good jump off the ball and covers the ground with a 45-degree set. He lands his punch on Graham's outside shoulder to thwart the rush. Edoga works a double-team well with Brian Winters against Derek Barnett (3-technique), moving him to the inside. Once Barnett is passed off to Winters, Edoga recognizes the threat of a lurking safety and switches over to cover it, discouraging the rush. Winters is then beaten by Barnett, who barrels into Edoga. Despite the fact that he was still eyeing the safety when Barnett engaged with him, Edoga was able to absorb the rush and create some outside movement, showing a strong anchor. Against Dallas, Edoga had a large share of battles against elite defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence, one of those coming on Darnold's 92-yard touchdown pass to Robby Anderson. While this is not a perfect rep (Darnold still had to move off of his set point), Edoga recovers well as he pushes Lawrence up the arc to give Darnold enough room to step up. Edoga may not have had to hold this block for very long at all, but he shows some impressive timing with his hands. Lawrence attempts to cross his inside arm to the outside (presumably to set up a cross-chop move in which a club with his outside arm would follow), but Edoga destroys it with a perfectly-timed two-hand punch. Despite the remarkable high-points, Edoga still produced at a brutal level to start off his rookie season. He allowed four pressures in each of his first four starts, yielding 16 total pressures (11 hurries, 1 hit, 4 sacks) and committing four penalties over that span. He ranked 55th out of 59 qualified tackles in pass-blocking efficiency from Weeks 5-9. On the plus side, Edoga's numbers saw an uptick over his latter four appearances. He allowed six pressures (1 hurry, 3 hits, 2 sacks) over 102 snaps in protection from Weeks 9-12, ranking a more respectable 38th out of 60 qualified tackles in pass-blocking efficiency over that span. He also went without a penalty over his final three starts after committing six over his first five. Edoga was on a roll against the Raiders in Week 12 before exiting with a season-ending injury. He did not allow any pressures over 10 snaps in protection. While that is not very impressive in and of itself at such a small sample size, Edoga logged some great reps over the short appearance. Here is a beautiful win against fellow rookie Maxx Crosby. Edoga shows a strong anchor to hold off this long-arm from Crosby. Picking up stunts is something that Edoga struggled with throughout his rookie season, but here, he and Compton fluidly stymie one to help set up a Darnold-to-Le'Veon Bell bomb. Negatives: Before we get into Edoga's numbers, we have to note that he deserves a strong rookie curve. He was tossed into the starting lineup mid-season and had to switch positions twice. He was also the fifth-youngest tackle to start a game in 2019, at just 22 years and 134 days old when he took the field in Week 5. Now that the curve is out there, it has to be noted that Edoga was a liability for the Jets in 2019. With 22 pressures allowed (12 hurries, 4 hits, 6 sacks) over 244 snaps in protection, Edoga posted the fifth-worst pass-blocking efficiency out of 79 qualified tackles on the season. He ranked at the 26th percentile with a run-blocking grade of 56.0. From Weeks 5-12, he tied for third at his position in sacks allowed (6) and sixth in penalties (6). Edoga's improved four-game stretch was not all golden, as he had one of his worst outings during that period. In Week 11, he allowed two sacks to Ryan Kerrigan and was benched in favor of Shell (returning to the starting lineup the following week). The first of the two was not all Edoga's fault, as he trips over Compton, but he did allow Kerrigan to long-arm him straight into the pocket. Edoga leaves his chest open and Kerrigan stabs it with his outside arm. It's game over at that point. On the second sack, Edoga takes a jump set and aims his punch much too high. Kerrigan deflects it with a forklift with and rips underneath. Edoga probably should not have gone with a jump set in that situation given how far out wide Kerrigan lined up. On this play, Edoga throws another high/wide punch that leads to a loss. Markus Golden is able to wrap up Darnold, but the young stud makes an unbelievable throw. Edoga struggled with recognition at times. Here he allows an unblocked defender to fly through for a hit on Darnold, failing to recognize the middle linebacker's blitz. As mentioned previously, Edoga graded out poorly in the run game as well. On this outside zone run, Edoga creates zero lateral movement, allowing his man to penetrate and force Bell to cut back into a stuff. This time on the backside of an outside zone, Edoga again struggles to move laterally as he allows his man to get involved in the stop for a mere two yards. 2020 Outlook: If the Jets played a game today, Edoga would be their starting right tackle. Beachum and Shell are out the door (Beachum remains unsigned, Shell signed with Seattle), and George Fant has been the only new addition made at tackle. It is likely that the Jets add a tackle in either the first or second round of the draft who will be in the mix for a starting spot. Regardless of how the draft plays out, Edoga is going to have an opportunity to earn a place in the opening-week starting lineup. The lack of guarantees in Fant's deal suggests that nothing will be handed to him, so it appears that he and Edoga will be battling it out for the starting spot opposite the presumably-incoming rookie. His debut season was rocky, to say the least, but Edoga showed bright flashes, and that is all you want to see out of a third round pick. Producing at an above-average level immediately after experiencing such a huge jump in competition is extremely tough. You simply want to your rookies (especially later-round ones) to showcase traits and skills that can be built upon in the future. Edoga certainly did that. We will learn a lot about the coaching staff's ability to develop offensive line talent this season. Fant is an excellent athlete who has not been able to put everything together. Edoga has the tools to be a solid starter and is looking to make a second-year leap. Can Frank Pollack and company help these two make the necessary technical refinements to fulfill their potential? Edoga is one of the biggest X-factors on the roster. Even if the Jets add an elite offensive line prospect in the first round, they will still head into 2020 with a bottom-half group upfront. However, if Edoga can reach his ceiling in 2020, things would look a whole lot different. The progression of homegrown young players is often one of the biggest reasons that teams take big steps forward from one year to the next. Edoga is the Jets' only hope of providing that on the offensive line, the team's most glaring weakness.