A year after saying that Mekhi Becton could be cut from the New York Jets’ roster, Boomer Esiason goes off again
Mekhi Becton rubbed some people the wrong way with his Twitter proclamations. One of those people was a former New York Jets quarterback and prominent media personality.
Boomer Esiason has not been shy about his disdain for Becton. Last offseason, when the controversy about Becton’s weight dominated the airwaves daily, Boomer stated that Becton could get cut. While the idea was ridiculous, the sentiment was accurate. Becton blew out his knee for the second consecutive season shortly thereafter.
Now, Boomer is doubling down on those old takes. The old-school quarterback has no patience for the me-first attitude of a player who has not earned anything.
After Becton tweeted and then deleted “I. AM. A. LEFT. TACKLE.”, Robert Saleh responded succinctly, “Go win the left tackle.” Boomer, meanwhile, said what Saleh might privately be thinking.
"You haven’t earned one thing since you’ve been here…you almost basically ate yourself out of the league"
Boomer rips Mekhi Becton for his since-deleted tweet:https://t.co/5ukYzRSYd1 pic.twitter.com/KWj1SUwjv2
— WFAN Sports Radio (@WFAN660) May 8, 2023
The players’ coach would never call out his guy that way, but there’s no doubt that the Jets have a right to be frustrated with Becton. Sure, he’s worked very hard to lose 50 pounds and get himself in shape. Kudos to him.
However, that is the baseline expectation for a player who has not lived up to his draft billing. Such a player should be keeping his head down and doing whatever it takes to make it on the team.
Due to the Jets’ roster construction, Becton could be the best tackle on the team and still be best suited for the right side. Duane Brown has never played right tackle, and it’s far easier for a 24-year-old to make that change than a 38-year-old.
Becton should have said that he will do whatever is best for the team. Boomer is not wrong about that.
“I would not deal with this kid with kid gloves,” Boomer said. “His job is on the line here.”
Knowing Saleh, he will never go after Becton like that. However, his point was duly noted: Becton will not be able to tweet his way into a position that isn’t best for the team.
After all the adversity Becton has been through, it would be wise of him to take notice of what truly matters. There is no “I” in “team.”
Follow Rivka Boord on Twitter @rivka_boord
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I wish we had better information on where Becton is at with his rehab and conditioning. We know he’s lost about 50 pounds but my question is exactly HOW? Did he engage in some kind of radical, fugazy insta-weight loss regimen, or was it a healthy mix of good nutrition and heavy cardio and other exercise? Last year, he got reinjured I think mainly because he was really not in condition to even practice. So, how much exercise has he been doing? It would be somewhat reassuring to know that his weight loss is the result of great conditioning, but we just don’t know. Why isn’t the reporting better on this?
Fantastic article Rivka!! And I agree with EVERYTHING Boomer said about Becton. He’s beyond lucky he’s getting a shot to switch to RT. If the Pats didn’t screw us out of Broderick Jones, Becton most likely be out of a job right now.
The Pats did not screw the Jets out of Broderick Jones. OL was one of their top needs, if they thought Jones was good the Pats would have drafted him NOT trade the pick to Pitt so THEY could draft him. The narrative that the Pats did that to screw the Jets is folly.
It could have been any team picking at 15 and NE would have made the trade. It had nothing to do with the Jets. They clearly didn’t like the player.