Brown is the second Jets tackle down before the season even begins
The New York Jets have lost another key player for perhaps a significant period of time.
Left tackle Duane Brown, signed in the wake of Mekhi Becton‘s season-ending knee injury, will miss Sunday’s season opener vs. Baltimore with a shoulder injury.
Head coach Robert Saleh stated that Brown hurt his shoulder in practice on Monday and is a potential injured reserve candidate. Such a move would mean that Brown misses a minimum of four weeks.
Update: The Jets placed Brown on IR and elevated Grant Hermanns from the practice squad.
The news is a huge blow to an offensive line that was already razor-thin at tackle. The Jets will now move George Fant back to the left tackle spot and start rookie fourth-round pick Max Mitchell at right tackle. The team had hoped to keep Mitchell on the bench for Year 1, as he is a developmental prospect who could use some more weight in muscle to contend with the strength of NFL edge rushers.
Brown’s injury further spotlights the decision by general manager Joe Douglas not to acquire more tackle depth. Douglas had the opportunity to draft Ikem Ekwonu or Evan Neal with the No. 4 overall pick, but he chose to go with Sauce Gardner in the hope that Becton would be healthy. However, the real question is why the GM left the cupboard so bare after Becton’s injury. Whereas Brown had been a swing tackle option prior to the injury, having him start at tackle meant that the team was still down a swing tackle.
Now, the Jets are forced to start a raw rookie against a hungry defense, led by second-year rusher Odafe Oweh. Baltimore will be licking its chops to get after the quarterback, especially since said QB is the statuesque Joe Flacco.
A year that showed so much promise not too long ago is already taking some big blows in the injury department. In what was already a tough matchup for the Jets, the additional loss of Duane Brown may be too much to overcome.
I am not a Joe Douglas hater or admirer. It appears that the Joe Douglas approach is to flood positions with good candidate, then select the best 5 or more of the group. Not a bad approach to target a position, flood it with talent and cut what you don’t need. This year we ended up with too many defensive lineman and wide receivers, but there is no doubt that both positions are well staffed.
We should also keep in mind that Joe Douglas has only a certain amount of salary cap space and roster space available. And he has many, many roster holes to fill. He could not be expected to fill all the holes in one or two or probably even three off-seasons. Some of his draft picks have not worked out, that is on him. But with so many needs and limited roster size, he can only do his best to address them all.
As usual, Rivka hits the nail on the head. I am a huge Joe D supporter, but he blew it on the OT situation.
Glad we have Sauce and the rest, but we didn’t move in FA as we should have for another OT.
As an aside, I think Joe will be fine in terms of having enough mobility to run a waggle heavy WC Offense.
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The second guessing of JD comes down to our situation (losing on the risky Becton situation) or having Sauce on the team. In the draft I wanted Ekonwu, but having gone thru all the off-season I’m glad we we have Sauce. Post draft, the problem is not supplementing the OT depth. Pickings may have been slim but veteran options are likely still available. I suspect one will be signed after Week 1 when contracts are no longer guaranteed for the full year. Mitchell can fix it all by being competent. Fant has every right to be ticked off at his contract situation. Feel for him.
From what I have read, Fant is still the best LT on the team, even including Brown who is little overrated. He should never have been moved to RT to begin with, and it may even be a stroke of luck that he is back there now. I would like to see the Jets pick up a serviceable RT and have Brown be the quality depth swing tackle (although he might need practice at RT).
One way of looking at this is, this starting 5 were specifically selected by JD for this type of offense. Brown and Moses before him were emergency acquisitions. Becton was drafted for Gase’s offense and imo is ill suited for this one. Mitchell is starting well before they envisioned, but he won’t be the first to ever do so. This is supposedly an athletic OL built for LaFleur’s kind of offense. At this stage of the rebuild and with a very veteran QB, I say let’s see how it develops.
Becton is not a poor fit for this offense. He’s a good zone blocker. Unlike Mims, whose fit disappeared once the offensive coordinator changed, I believe Becton could have succeeded in this offense had he been able to stay healthy.
Flacco is immobile and will not be able to avoid pressure the way Wilson can or even can be game-planned to do by using rollouts away from the best rusher. The Jets are hoping for the best with Mitchell, but this is certainly not an ideal scenario.
Fant outplayed Brown last season by a significant margin. Still, the line as a whole is better with Brown at left tackle and Fant at right tackle than Fant at left and Mitchell at right. The Jets originally brought Brown in for a visit with the intention of offering him the swing tackle position; at this point, with Becton hurt, Brown will be the starting left tackle once he returns unless Mitchell proves to be far more NFL ready than expected and Fant sustains his level of play from last season.
It’s not really second-guessing when it was pointed to as a significant risk before the draft. Anyone following the situation knew that Becton was a risky bet, and I don’t think it surprised anyone when he sustained a season-ending injury before ever taking a snap. The bigger issue was not supplementing. Yes, the Jets will probably sign a veteran once the contracts become non-guaranteed, but that results in having Mitchell start Week 1. Even though Joe Blewett liked what he saw from Mitchell in college, his analysis of the film was not with the thought that Mitchell would be starting Week 1. Mitchell was taken as a developmental prospect. It might be a long day for him tomorrow.