No Jamal Adams. No C.J. Mosley. The New York Jets’ 2020 season still hinges on Mekhi Becton and the offensive line.
Joe Douglas‘ New York Jets suffered through the entire 2019 season without the services of C.J. Mosley and Avery Williamson—a linebacking duo expected to perform among the league’s best 3-4 inside tandems. Everybody involved could not wait until the duo’s return to action in 2020.
Monday morning in Florham Park, NJ, neither Mosley nor Williamson could be found. The former is one of the NFL players to opt-out of the 2020 season due to COVID-19 concerns, and the latter is still not quite ready to resume activities (although he’s close). It was, instead, Neville Hewitt and Blake Cashman manning down the second-level defensive fort.
That’s football, Suzyn.
Availablity is always the best attribute. Banking on a Mosley return was never the right move (for injury reasons). Pretending all would be well with Jamal Adams was another soul-crushing johnny-come-lately attitude example.
Cue the not-so-johnny-come-lately Jets fan defeatist attitude. These fans are used to such heartbreak. No Mosley, no Adams, a perceived ill-prepared head coach, and an organization that can never seem to get out of its own way is the challenge.
Simultaneously cue the johnny-arrived-early general manager who understands where this game lives and breathes. That’s the area the 2020 Jets will officially make their mark or swing and miss harder and quicker than Kevin Maas in 1992. That’s the area that should awaken the already-defeated professional football fandom that enjoys pockets in New Jersey, Long Island and, of course, Queens (among other spots).
The Jets’ 2020 campaign will live or die up front where the big heavies bang, and it all starts with young Mekhi Becton.