Michael Nania lists the New York Jets’ best and worst players against the Las Vegas Raiders, and stacks up the roster according to each player’s impact on the team’s performance to date.
Studs and duds + season-long roster rankings:
- Week 1 at Buffalo Bills
- Week 2 vs. San Francisco 49ers
- Week 3 at Indianapolis Colts
- Week 4 vs. Denver Broncos
- Week 5 vs. Arizona Cardinals
- Week 6 at Miami Dolphins
- Week 7 vs. Buffalo Bills
- Week 8 at Kansas City Chiefs
- Week 9 vs. New England Patriots
- Week 11 at Los Angeles Chargers
- Week 12 vs. Miami Dolphins
Each week this season, I will be laying out my picks for the New York Jets‘ best and worst-performing players from their previous game – but with a twist. Each player listed as a “stud” will receive a positive score ranging from 1 (solid) to 5 (dominant) based on their impact level, while each player listed as a “dud” will receive a negative score ranging from -1 (below average) to -5 (horrendous). The sum of all players’ scores will be equal to the Jets’ scoring margin from the game.
As the season progresses, we will get an increasingly good look at each player’s contribution to the team’s success (or lack thereof) up to that point.
Here are my studs and duds from the Jets’ 31-28 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. The Jets lost by 3 points, so the scores below add up to -3.
At the end of the piece is a ranking of the season-long scores for each player, showcasing the team’s most valuable and most detrimental players on the year.
Duds
Tarell Basham: -1
Tarell Basham could not find a way to do any damage in the passing game, recording only one pressure over 29 pass-rush snaps (3.4% pressure rate). He also gave up a first down in zone coverage to Nelson Agholor after getting blasted to the ground by Darren Waller.
Sergio Castillo: -1
Sergio Castillo missed wide right on an extra point following the Jets’ second touchdown. It wasn’t even close.
Sam Darnold: -1
This was far from Sam Darnold’s worst performance of the season, and he did some nice things with three total touchdowns (2 passing, 1 rushing) and a solid average of 8.1 yards per pass attempt, but I still think he did more harm than good. His QBR (32.6), PFF grade (61.9), and my personal grade for his performance (36.3) were all below average. Darnold had three turnovers (2 fumbles, 1 interception) and struggled to push the ball downfield as he went just 2-for-5 on passes that traveled over 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Ashtyn Davis: -2
Prior to leaving the game with a foot injury that may end his rookie season, Ashtyn Davis had a rough time in coverage, allowing 4-of-6 passing in his direction for 55 yards and three first downs over just 19 snaps in coverage.
George Fant: -2
George Fant allowed four pressures over 30 protection snaps (13.3%) in his return game.
Bryce Hall: -2
This marked Bryce Hall’s third consecutive start in which he was targeted plenty and gave up some production, but still showed promise.
Overall, the production from Hall was not good as he allowed 6-of-7 passing for 71 yards, two first downs, and a touchdown while also committing a holding penalty that yielded a conversion on third down. Most notably, Hall took a bad gamble on a pass to Darren Waller that allowed him to break free for a 38-yard touchdown.
Hall struggled against Waller, giving up 4-of-5 passing for 65 yards, two firsts, and the score, but against wide receivers, he was sound. When matched up against a wide receiver, Hall allowed only one first down, which was the holding penalty against Nelson Agholor. Otherwise, Hall gave up 2-of-2 passing for 6 yards and no firsts to wide receivers.
Pat Elflein: -3
Despite a handful of solid reps in the run game, I do not think Pat Elflein was more than decent in that phase overall, while his pass protection was abysmal. Elflein gave up four pressures over 30 protection snaps (13.3%) and they tended to be very quick pressures that had a profound effect on the play. He also did a poor job of passing off a stunt to Mekhi Becton that ended up resulting in a strip-sack, a play Elflein was not knocked with a pressure on.
Harvey Langi: -3
Harvey Langi allowed 4-of-5 passing for 63 yards and three first downs in coverage. As a blitzer, he failed to make much of anything happen, picking up only one pressure over 15 pass-rush snaps.
Josh Andrews: -4
Yikes. That’s pretty much the only word I have emitted while watching Josh Andrews’ film this season. He gave up three pressures over 24 snaps in protection (12.5%) after replacing Greg Van Roten at right guard. In the run game, Andrews was at least partially involved in the majority of the Jets’ failed plays. Particularly, on outside runs, Andrews often failed to maintain his block and allowed his man to scrape down the line of scrimmage to make a play.
If the Jets are not playing Cameron Clark because he does not look better than Andrews right now, the rookie definitely has a long way to go on the path to becoming an NFL starter.
Lamar Jackson: -5
You have to feel for the undrafted rookie a bit with the situations he has been thrown into this season. From defending DeAndre Hopkins one-on-one to being the target of a brutal play-call by Gregg Williams, Lamar Jackson‘s rookie season has been trial by fire.
Nevertheless, the results are the results, and Jackson’s output in this game was brutal. He allowed 4-of-7 passing in his direction for 86 yards, two first downs, and two touchdowns. One of those scores was a 9-yarder to Darren Waller on a botched zone coverage, and the other was the famous 46-yard game-winner to Henry Ruggs III in which Jackson inexplicably bit on a double-move in a Hail Mary situation.
Studs
With the Jets coming as close to a win as they have all season, it only makes sense that we have a season-high 10 players in the studs section this week.
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Did Andrews poor performance contribute to Fants problems ? Is Jenkins surpassing Basham ? Will either be here in 2021 ?
Jenkins is definitely making a late-season surge to up his value, curious to see if he keeps this going, and if he does, how high his value goes on the market. I like Basham but I’d probably expect them to move on with a new staff coming in.
As for Andrews, he hurt Fant a little bit, there were a couple stunts they didn’t handle too well. But Fant just got beat on a couple of inside spins and bull rushes, mainly from Crosby. Not a disastrous game by any means but less consistent than ideal. I still like Fant on the season overall though, and would prefer to stick with him / focus on guards instead of cutting him and going another RT route.
Moving on from Fant and shooting higher at RT is definitely something I can understand, though. It would just be a high-ceiling, low-floor type of move. I think you can rely on Fant to give you decency when healthy. Will be interesting to see what they do. I think he stays since it seems like Fant was very much a Douglas move (first signing of FA, under-the-radar OL which is his position of specialty) and he has mostly been up to expectations. But if Douglas wants to shoot higher, Fant’s contract opens the door to do that.
Could Fant be moved to a team seeking a Left Tackle ? Small sample size but Fant has demonstrated an upside at Left Tackle, at a very reasonable price for a LT. Could be an unbelievable coupe for Douglas
If Sir Arthur becomes HC, Jets could seriously look at Moton, Fant for a 2022 fourth as a LT, possibly ten teams.
Agreed if they go with Arthur, I think they are really going to emphasize OL and building an offense that can win on the ground. Arthur + Douglas are both guys with an OL background, the Titans offense is predicated upon building a threatening running game that works off play action, and it goes without saying that a great running game/offensive line are extremely important things to support your rookie QB. So there are a lot of reasons to believe they go that Moton route (or some other upgrade over Fant at RT) if Arthur is the guy.
Exceptionally insightful, exciting and hopeful for the future. Thank you.
No problem!
I think that’s a tradeable contract, maybe they can snag a Day 3 pick for him?
As always, Douglas’s willingness to take compensation in 2022 or even 2023, improves the likelihood of a deal and improves the overall quality of the compensation. GM’s have short leashes