The New York Jets’ offensive line is… a strength?
For the first time in many years, that is the case.
Typically, when the Jets’ offense had a poor season (which has been every year except for 2015 over the past decade), the offensive line could be easily chalked up as the primary culprit outside of the quarterback position. While 2024 has been another poor offensive season for New York, that has actually occurred despite a solid year by the offensive front.
Alijah Vera-Tucker is putting it all together. John Simpson is having an All-Pro-caliber season. Olu Fashanu was showing superstar potential before he went down with a season-ending injury.
Despite all of these success stories, some are still deferring to the outdated low-hanging fruit argument of deflecting blame toward the Jets’ offensive line and away from other parties.
Former longtime WFAN host Mike Francesa claimed that Aaron Rodgers has not played behind a “real offensive line” this season. It’s a laughably erroneous claim, considering Rodgers has taken the second-lowest pressure rate among qualified quarterbacks this season at 24.4%, per NFL Next Gen Stats. Only Tua Tagovailoa (22.1%) has been pressured on a lower percentage of his dropbacks (among QBs with 100+ dropbacks).
Rodgers’ incredibly low pressure rate should be enough to silence the narrative that he plays behind poor pass protection. Calling the Jets’ pass protection a weakness is enough of a misconception on its own, but there is another misconception that emerges from skeptics who take their criticism one step deeper. Some will dismiss Rodgers’ pressure rate (and other positive pass-blocking stats produced by the Jets’ offensive line) as a byproduct of his quick release time.
It is partially true that Rodgers’ release time buoys the offensive line’s production from a pressure rate standpoint. According to NGS, Rodgers averages 2.66 seconds to throw, which ranks sixth-fastest among the 43 quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks this season. When you throw quick passes at a high frequency, it certainly makes it easier to rack up plays where the quarterback is not pressured, therefore improving the QB’s pressure rate even if the offensive line isn’t doing anything to facilitate it.
While the impact of a quick release time on Rodgers’ pressure rate cannot be ignored, it often goes ignored that the Jets’ offensive line performs very well even in situations where Rodgers does not get the ball out quickly. This proves Rodgers’ pressure rate is a legitimate indicator that he receives high-quality protection.
When Rodgers holds the ball for at least 2.5 seconds, his pressure rate is 40.5%, which still ranks seventh-lowest out of 43 qualifiers (league average: 46.4%). When he holds it for at least 4 seconds, his pressure rate is 66.7%, still eighth-lowest (league average: 74.5%).
This is where arguments against the Jets’ offensive line fall apart. Sure, you could claim the overall numbers lack context and are affected by various outside factors. But even when you do apply context – isolating situations where the offensive line has more responsibility – the numbers are still excellent.
The Jets’ offensive line has been an indisputable strength in pass protection this year. Rodgers has taken pressure at a lower rate than every other quarterback except for Tua Tagovailoa, and even when you contextualize that metric to account for his release time, he still ranks as one of the least-pressured quarterbacks in football. Using the Jets’ offensive line as an excuse for the passing game’s underperformance is a faulty argument.
Despite having one of the better pass-blocking offensive lines, New York still has only the 19th-best passing offense in the NFL (based on DVOA), which sheds light on the negative impact of all parties outside of the line. It is up for debate how that negative impact should be divvied up between Rodgers, the coaching, the wide receivers, and the tight ends, but there is no question that the majority of the onus falls somewhere within that group. Not only was this the first season in many years where the Jets’ pass-blocking was, well, not horrendous, but it was a significant asset (rather than merely competent), and their passing game is still below average.
Pass protection is a strength for the New York Jets going forward. The team’s passing-game issues lie outside of the trenches.
