New York Jets linemen Mekhi Becton, George Fant, and Greg Van Roten thrive in KC (Film)

Three of Joe Douglas' offensive line pickups are playing solid football for the New York Jets, highlighted by their respective pass-protection performances against the Chiefs. Greg Van Roten Over the first four weeks of the season, Van Roten allowed 15 pressures, most among guards. His pressure rate of 9.3% was the worst among qualifiers. The Rockville Centre, NY native is turning his season around. Since Week 5, Van Roten has allowed only two pressures over 150 protection snaps, a rate of 1.3% that ranks second-best among 64 qualified guards over that span. Van Roten was knocked with zero pressures allowed against Kansas City. On this play, Van Roten shuts down two blitzers. He picks up the safety and passes him inside before turning his attention to the linebacker attempting to rush through the B-gap, picking him up and giving Sam Darnold enough time to find Braxton Berrios for a first down. The 5-technique defensive end rushes inside against Van Roten, looking to throw an aggressive bull rush. With the DT in the B-gap rushing inside, Van Roten quickly identifies that the 5-technique is his primary threat. Van Roten absorbs the bull rush and anchors down effectively. Van Roten goes one-on-one with Derek Nnadi, the 2-tech lined up directly over him. Van Roten prevents any quick penetration to keep the pocket clean on a quick-release throw by Darnold. Outstanding stunt pickup by Van Roten on this play. The linebacker over the B-gap looks to carry Van Roten inside. Van Roten recognizes the stunt action and passes the linebacker off while preparing to pick up a defender looping from the other side. However, Andrews is late to pick up the linebacker from Van Roten. So, Van Roten makes sure to hang on to the linebacker with his inside hand for a bit longer until Andrews can pick him up. Once Andrews finally gets over, he and Van Roten throw the linebacker outside and straight into the looping defender, Chris Jones. Van Roten then moves off the linebacker to pick up Jones and knock him way off the ball. Beautiful job. Mekhi Becton Becton was knocked with only one pressure allowed over the Jets' 36 passing plays. Kansas City's starting edge rushers, Frank Clark and Tanoh Kpassagnon, combined for zero pressures over 27 rushes from Becton's side of the line. The rookie was absolutely locked-in as a pass protector, devouring everything the Chiefs threw at him. On the play where Denzel Mims excited the fanbase with an acrobatic 27-yard grab, Becton played a big part in allowing it to happen with a dominant rep against Clark, he of 43 sacks and 87 quarterback hits since 2016. With Becton shining on the front end and Mims shining on the back end, this play is an inspiring glimpse into the future. Becton takes a jump set against Clark, immediately engaging with two hands. Becton's punch is precise, landing directly in Clark's chest. At that point, it's over. Becton shows off his length and power as Clark is never able to disengage. Darnold gets a clean pocket to take the shot (nice work by almost everyone here). Clark looks to beat Becton with a speed rush. Knowing that Darnold is not taking a deep dropback, Becton gives Clark the edge and pushes him up the arc, allowing him to run himself too far up the field to penetrate the pocket. Even though the ball is out quick, Clark would not have affected the play even if it had lasted a few more seconds. Kpassagnon takes on Becton as the wide 5-tech from a four-point stance. Becton makes effective contact with his punch, catches Kpassagnon's arms to neutralize his attempt at a bull rush, and anchors down. This rep against fellow rookie Mike Danna is a great display of Becton's length. From the wide 5-tech, Danna explodes upfield looking to set up a long-arm move. Becton stays patient and sits back on it. Once Danna throws his arm, he is barely able to even reach Becton's body, whereas Becton extends his arms and lands powerful contact on Danna's shoulder without even leaning forward. Becton gains control and completely shuts down the rush. George Fant Like Becton, Fant was charged with only one pressure over 36 protection snaps. Fant takes on Kpassagnon here, who lines up way out wide as the 5-tech. To make up the ground, Fant covers a lot of lateral distance in his 45-degree set. Kpassagnon looks to chop Fant's outside arm and convert it into a rip, but Fant is able to get his hands into Kpassagnon's inside hip, knocking him off-balance. Fant then works up to Kpassagnon's inside shoulder and rides him up the field while shielding him off from Darnold's set point. With Chris Herndon to his right, Fant leaves the 6-tech defensive end to Herndon and focuses on the 3/4i-tech defensive tackle, superstar Chris Jones. Fant slides laterally to the inside and engages Jones aggressively. Jones feels Fant's heavy inside momentum and nearly beats him to the outside with a hump move (plant and club Fant's outside shoulder to toss him inside), but before Jones throws that move, Fant is able to strike Jones' outside shoulder and grab hold of his jersey sleeve. Fant's grip is strong enough that he is able to hang on to Jones even through his violent attempt at the hump move. Fant shows a strong anchor and wins the rep. Fant faces another 5-tech lined up far out wide. This time, it's Clark. Fant covers a ton of ground in his set, both vertically and laterally. While getting into his slide, Fant uses his peripheral vision to check on the 4i-tech and the looming linebacker to see if either is coming his way. Once neither does, Fant turns his full attention to Clark. Clark explodes upfield and looks to set up an outside rip move by flashing his inside hand, hoping to bait Fant into his throwing his outside arm, which would open the window to rip underneath. Fant is not fooled, using both hands to catch Clark's inside arm before he can throw the move. Clark is shut down. The Chiefs game is another feather in Fant's cap, but he has been erratic, alternating between solid performances and lackluster ones. Can he establish some consistency to prove to Douglas and the Jets that he is worth keeping as the starting right tackle in 2021 at his $9.4M price tag? Having a healthy Becton, allowing Fant to string together starts on the right side, should help him build that week-to-week stability. Van Roten is set to have a cap hit of only $3.5M next season, but the Jets can clear $3.25M of that salary while taking on only $250K in dead money by cutting him. Four games in, cutting Van Roten seemed like a no-brainer, but he is playing his way into sticking around. His current level of play is that of an average starter. That's a bargain at $3.5M. If Van Roten keeps this up over the next eight games, the Jets can feel great about him as either a stopgap starter or high-level backup going into 2021. Douglas and the Jets should still search feverishly for upgrades at both guard spots regardless of how well Van Roten plays over the next eight games - Van Roten is going to be 31 next year and is only average at his best - but if he maintains his current stretch through the season's conclusion, Van Roten will certainly be a valuable piece for the 2021 team. Should the search for an upgrade prove futile, you can do a lot worse than Van Roten as a starting guard while you search for a long-term answer. If an answer is found, Van Roten would be about as trusty of a backup as you can hope for. All of that is contingent on staying hot, though. We cannot overlook the fact that Van Roten struggled massively over the first four games. Reverting to that level would put him back on the chopping block. As for Becton? Well, you know the deal at this point. The kid is good. Really, really good.