With the New York Jets’ playoff hopes all but evaporated, fans will be turning their eyes to the future over the remaining six games. Each Sunday, the primary focus of many fans will not be whether the Jets can get a victory, but rather how the things happening on the field affect the franchise’s long-term outlook.
For that reason, there is a new star of the Jets’ show as the calendar flips to December. No longer should the spotlight be on Aaron Rodgers. Now, the Jets’ most important player is the man protecting his blind side: Olu Fashanu.
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Fashanu is arguably the Jets’ most consequential player over the next six games. Rodgers and many other veteran players on the team already seem unlikely to return in 2025, whereas core young players like Garrett Wilson and Sauce Gardner have already established themselves as quality pieces who are likely to return in 2025 (although they, too, have questions to answer about their futures and long-term value). Fashanu, on the other hand, remains a mystery, and the next six games will give us clues about his future.
Like most young players with just three career starts under their belt, Fashanu boasts the exciting yet terrifying combination of a limitless ceiling and a low floor. Trying to figure out where he might land on that spectrum is what makes his performance over the final six games so intriguing compared to the rest of the roster. There is much to be learned about Fashanu, while many other players on the team are who they are, for the most part. Not to mention, he was a significant investment by the organization, so they are counting on him to justify that investment.
As the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft, Fashanu has the potential to become one of the Jets’ long-term anchors on the offensive line, a unit they have been spending well over a decade trying to rebuild. The remainder of the 2024 season will give the Jets and their fans a strong look at where Fashanu stands in his development as he enters his second season. Fashanu has endured growing pains thus far but has also displayed tantalizing signs of high-level play.
The recent play of another offensive rookie in the AFC only brings further attention to Fashanu. The Penn State product became the subject of intense social-media debate on Black Friday during the Las Vegas Raiders-Kansas City Chiefs game. Las Vegas nearly achieved the upset at Arrowhead behind rookie tight end Brock Bowers, who racked up 10 catches for 140 yards and a touchdown while pulling himself into the NFL lead with 84 receptions on the season. Bowers, of course, was passed on by the Jets in favor of Fashanu, only to be scooped up by Las Vegas two picks later.
Bowers’ nationally televised explosion prompted some in the media to question whether the Jets made a mistake by passing on Bowers in favor of Fashanu. The majority of Jets fans engaged in the online debate appeared to be defending the selection.
While Fashanu has not yet been the star at tackle that Bowers has been at tight end, the Jets’ talented 21-year-old blocker could be well on his way to matching Bowers’ excellence. Over the past few weeks, Fashanu has begun to show flashes of why the Jets elected to take him over a tight end prospect who many thought was one of the best in recent history.
Fashanu was dealt a difficult hand to begin the season, playing multiple positions where he had minimal experience. But ever since he’s returned to his natural position, the Jets’ left tackle of the future has started to heat up.
Olu Fashanu is settling in after being dealt a rough hand to start
While Fashanu was drafted into a backup role behind penciled-in starters Tyron Smith (LT) and Morgan Moses (RT), the Jets knew he would receive extensive playing time in his rookie year. Both well over 30 years old and coming off injury-riddled seasons, Smith and Moses were likely to miss plenty of time in 2024, and that has been precisely the case.
Fashanu has played 42% of the Jets’ offensive snaps through their first 11 games of the season. If he plays every snap the rest of the way, he will likely finish the year having played over 60% of the Jets’ offensive snaps. For all of those who questioned why the Jets would take a “redshirt” player with a first-round pick, there you go.
This was never going to be a true redshirt year for Fashanu. The Jets knew it, and they prepared Fashanu accordingly in the summer. However, although Fashanu expected to play a key role in his rookie season, nothing could have truly prepared him for the hand he was dealt.
Fashanu played his first NFL offensive snaps in Week 3. But it wasn’t at left tackle in place of Tyron Smith, which was Fashanu’s natural position and the spot where he had the greatest chance of filling in due to injury. Rather, Fashanu debuted at right tackle in place of Morgan Moses.
While Fashanu was not completely unprepared for the right tackle position, his experience on that side was minimal compared to the left. Fashanu did not play a single snap at right tackle in college, as he exclusively played left tackle for the Nittany Lions. It wasn’t until late in the summer of 2024 that the Jets began working him there. Fashanu was exclusively working at left tackle with the Jets until they started cross-training him at right tackle on August 12, less than one month before the season opener. Fashanu made one preseason start at right tackle and logged 29 snaps there, but that was all he had under his belt going into the regular season.
Fashanu briefly filled in for Moses in Week 3 (13 snaps) and then started at right tackle over the following two games. It went roughly, as Fashanu earned an overall Pro Football Focus grade of 45.7 from Weeks 4-5, which tracks with what showed up on film.
Moses returned in Week 6, and Fashanu headed back to the bench. His next appearance came in Week 9, when he played the final 64% of New York’s offensive snaps at… right guard. Fashanu had never played an in-game snap at guard in his entire football career. Interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich clarified that, even in practice, Fashanu had received “very, very little” time at guard.
Placing Fashanu at guard was never something that New York had in the cards. He was essentially the Jets’ seventh option at the position. Primary backup interior lineman Wes Schweitzer was injured before the season and has yet to suit up for a game. The next backup, Xavier Newman, suffered a neck injury in Week 7. Starting right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker was out in Week 9, prompting Jake Hanson to start in his place. Then, starting left guard John Simpson went down early in Week 9, calling Max Mitchell up to left guard, which meant that when Hanson was injured further into the game, Fashanu was the Jets’ only option.
Despite Fashanu’s admirable resilience, the results were predictably poor, as he earned a 47.4 overall grade at PFF.
Nine weeks into the season, Fashanu’s numbers were nothing to write home about. His 47.1 overall PFF grade ranked 197th out of the 214 offensive linemen who played at least 100 snaps from Weeks 1-9.
But it wasn’t fair to judge Fashanu based on production that was accumulated solely at two positions where he had little to no experience entering the season. Unfortunately, though, reps at right tackle and right guard were all we had to evaluate Fashanu upon, so there was limited hype and optimism surrounding him after nine weeks of play.
Then, Fashanu finally got the chance to show the world what he can do at his natural position. In Week 10, Tyron Smith went down, throwing Fashanu into action at left tackle for the Jets’ final 33 offensive snaps (57%). With Smith sidelined in Week 11, Fashanu got a chance to make his first NFL start at left tackle, playing all 52 of the Jets’ offensive snaps.
It’s a tiny sample size, but now that Fashanu has begun logging reps at his natural position, we are beginning to see production that the team and its fans can be excited about. Here is a roundup of Fashanu’s grades at left tackle and where they rank at the position since Week 10 (out of 35 players with 60+ snaps at LT):
- 71.5 overall PFF grade (12th)
- 78.2 run-blocking PFF grade (4th)
- 69.9 pass-blocking PFF grade (18th)
On top of the PFF grades, other metrics support Fashanu’s improved performance at left tackle. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Fashanu has allowed a pressure rate of 8.3% when aligned at left tackle, which ranks 17th-lowest out of the 50 players to play at least 55 pass-blocking snaps at left tackle this season. Additionally, Breece Hall has averaged 5.2 yards per carry with a 67% success rate on rushes to the left side with Fashanu on the field.
If Fashanu can maintain or even improve upon some of these numbers over the final six games, he will be in a position to make the second-year jump toward upper-echelon play in 2025.
Olu Fashanu film at left tackle
On film, Fashanu’s comfort at left tackle has jumped off the screen. With more confidence in his footwork and technique, Fashanu’s special athleticism has shined much brighter than it did at positions where his fundamentals were less sharp.
His fluidity in pass protection jumps off the screen, and the sheer power of his run-blocking has been a pleasant surprise considering it was his main question mark coming into the year. Fashanu is consistently generating significant displacement as the front-side blocker on zone plays.
While he possesses excellent tools and has used them to find solid pass-blocking success since moving to left tackle, Fashanu must still sharpen his technique to maximize his tools and become a top-tier pass protector.
Fellow first-round rookie Laiatu Latu beat Fashanu for one sack and one hit in the Colts’ win over New York.
On the sack, Fashanu punches too wide, which causes him to provide little resistance on the rush, and then Fashanu’s feat lock up rather than gaining more vertical depth, opening the door for Latu to bend the corner and get back inside for the sack.
On the hit, Fashanu’s hands come late, allowing Latu to get his hands into Fashanu’s chest and establish first contact on the bull rush. Fashanu also places his hands too high, landing on the shoulder pads, which allows Latu to get low and win the leverage battle. Latu drives Fashanu into Rodgers, knocking down the QB and affecting the throw.
No. 74 is the man to watch over the Jets’ stretch run
While there is plenty of work left to be done for Fashanu, it’s promising to see that his performance has improved significantly since he moved back to his natural spot.
Through nine weeks, there wasn’t much to be thrilled about with Fashanu’s performance outside of the fact that he displayed versatility and resilience by stepping up at two unfamiliar positions. Now, it’s starting to look like Jets fans can rest assured that the cold start was probably just a product of him playing out of position – assuming Fashanu can maintain this level of play over the remainder of the season.
It’s important to remember that who Fashanu is after Week 18 of 2024 is not necessarily who he will be in Week 1 of 2025. Even if he does not maintain his recent performance at left tackle, it does not rule him out from becoming a great player down the line. Many great players, especially offensive linemen, endure a shaky rookie season before taking a huge leap in their second season after enjoying their first full offseason as a professional athlete.
One tremendous example is Trent Williams. The fourth overall pick in 2010, Williams received a 63.4 overall PFF grade as a rookie; his final rookie-year game was actually his worst-graded game of the season (40.7). He proceeded to break out in 2011 with a 79.0 overall grade and has never gone below 75 since.
Terron Armstead is another example, posting a 65.8 grade as a rookie and breaking out with a 78.6 grade in his second season; like Williams, he has never gone below 75 since. We even saw this happen recently at MetLife Stadium with Andrew Thomas, the fourth overall pick in 2020. The much-maligned Giants rookie finished with a 62.4 grade (including 10 sacks allowed) only to break out to 78.9 in his next season, and, once again, he has never gone below 75 since. You can go on and on with these examples.
So, as important and exciting as it will be to watch Fashanu play over the next six games, Jets fans must remember to be patient with him. Having a less-than-stellar rookie season does not rule him out from taking a massive leap in 2025 to kick off a career of stardom.
What you want to see are flashes. Williams, Armstead, and Thomas were inconsistent as rookies, but the glimpses of star-caliber ability were there. As a franchise, you count on young players to show they possess the potential to become stars, and you count on the coaching staff (and time) to help those young players develop the consistency they need to fulfill that potential. When you combine high rookie-year peaks with a full offseason of development and a full year of mental experience in the bank, you often get gigantic year-two leaps, even if the preceding rookie year was inconsistent.
Over these past two games, Fashanu has shown those star-caliber flashes that you want to see. It may have only been 85 offensive snaps, but his body of work in Weeks 10-11 would be a fantastic jumping-off point for a 21-year-old rookie left tackle to begin his career with. Now, he just has to go out there and keep showing those flashes. Growing pains should be expected along the way, but if he can balance those out with more tantalizing moments of promise, he will be in a fantastic spot entering 2025.
