Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn avoided superstars like the plague during their first offseason as a duo. From dumping Aaron Rodgers and Davante Adams to signing only one of the NFL’s top 25 most expensive free agents who changed teams (based on total guarantees), the New York Jets’ new regime had no interest in adding proven names to the depth chart.
Instead, New York has elected to search for production from unexpected places. At many positions, the Jets are trusting their coaching staff to unearth hidden gems. The goal is to get bang for their buck in the short term as they reset the team’s culture and long-term cap picture.
One of the areas where the Jets have opted for a frugal approach? The offensive weaponry.
Of the Jets’ top seven players with the largest cap hits in 2025, none of them play wide receiver, running back, or tight end. Their most expensive skill position player is wide receiver Garrett Wilson, who has a $6.5 million cap hit on the fourth year of his rookie contract. Outside of Wilson, no other skill-position player has a cap hit above $5 million.
Save for Wilson being the clear-cut WR1, the Jets are set to hold competitions for just about every skill-position role.
We don’t know who the other two starting wide receivers will be.
We don’t know what the running back split will look like.
Second-round rookie Mason Taylor is the presumed TE1, but he has to earn it first. When he inevitably does, the Jets still have to figure out who’s playing with him in 12 personnel.
Enter a secret weapon who may be able to contribute in all of these areas: fullback Andrew Beck.
Who?
Beck, 29, signed a one-year, $1.34 million contract with the Jets in March. Only $167.5K is guaranteed, which indicates New York does not view him as a roster lock.
While Beck will have to compete for a roster spot, his skill set makes him an intriguing fit for the Jets’ roster. On a team lacking skill-position depth, Beck has the ability to fill some gaps across multiple roles.
Beck has played 70 NFL games (22 starts) for the Broncos, Packers, and Texans. He most recently appeared for Houston in the 2024 AFC divisional round, playing 22 offensive snaps.
Despite his fullback label, Beck is not your typical one-dimensional I-formation blocker who brings little else to the table. He is a versatile player who can adequately handle a few different roles. This stems from his multi-positional experience, as he played tight end over his first four NFL seasons before switching to fullback in 2023.
The Jets have quite a few offensive players with specified skill sets, but very few with complete all-around games. This is where Beck could find his niche. New York can use his versatility to cover up weaknesses across the depth chart.
For instance, the tight end unit sorely lacks blocking skills. Mason Taylor is an NFL-ready receiver, but his blocking will take time to develop. The rest of the unit features no reliable blockers. Beck, whose blocking is respected enough for Houston to view him as a fit for the fullback role, is a great option for the Jets to account for their lack of blocking at tight end.
While he is listed as a fullback, Beck is just as capable of contributing as an in-line blocker. Since 2023, he has lined up in-line on 32.3% of his offensive snaps and in the backfield on 51.4% (along with 12% in the slot and 4.3% out wide). He could essentially be the Jets’ No. 2 tight end as a blocker, while Stone Smartt and Jeremy Ruckert compete for the No. 2 spot as receivers.
At the same time, it is not as if using Beck would mean the Jets are wasting snaps on a pure blocker with no playmaking ability. He has been a reliable pass catcher on a small volume of opportunities in his career. Beck won’t be drafted onto any fantasy teams, but he is competent enough for opponents to respect him as a threat in the passing game.
Beck has caught 25 of 38 targets (65.8%) for 214 yards and three touchdowns. Quarterbacks have a 95.7 passer rating when targeting him. He only has two career drops. The 255-pounder is also a decent mover with the ball in his hands, averaging 6.0 YAC per reception.
Courtesy of Joe Blewett, here is a reel of Beck’s best reps in Houston. It primarily highlights his blocking versatility, showing many reps of Beck in-line, in the I formation, and on the move. We also see a glimpse of his sneaky playmaking on a kickoff return, along with a nice one-handed grab.
To boot, Beck displays some flashes of surprisingly good route-running for a player in this role, which his teams have not fully tapped into yet. Here are three examples, via Blewett, with Beck not targeted on any of them.
With his reliable efficiency as a pass catcher and his untapped ceiling as a route runner, Beck is a sneakily intriguing option to snatch a small portion of the Jets’ target pie. Outside of Wilson, targets will be ripe for the picking, so if Beck can get himself on the field via his blocking advantage over the tight ends, he could end up seeing a target or two per game.
Jets’ vision and roster weaknesses lay a clear path to the roster for Beck
We know the Jets want to build a run-first offense around Justin Fields. Typically, run-first offenses built around mobile quarterbacks feature a high usage rate of heavy personnel packages. Baltimore and Philadelphia are perfect examples.
In addition, Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand comes from a Detroit offense that heavily utilized 12 personnel (2 tight ends), and that was without a mobile quarterback. Pair Engstrand with Fields, and it seems very likely that 12 personnel will be a fixture.
The Jets, though, lack the tight end talent to rely on 12 personnel packages. They may attempt it regardless, but anyone without green-shaded goggles can see that a duo of Mason Taylor and Jeremy Ruckert/Stone Smartt is unlikely to scare anyone in the run game. More blocking talent is needed if the Jets are serious about building a legitimate ground-and-pound offense.
Beck is arguably the best skill-position blocker on the Jets’ roster. He isn’t a total slouch as a receiver, either. Given the Jets’ offensive vision and roster makeup, there is a role waiting for Beck in the offense. As long as he does his part throughout the summer, Beck should be expected to make the roster.
Much attention is being paid to the Jets’ depth (or lack thereof) at tight end, but the Jets might have their solution in a player who is listed at an entirely different position. Look for Beck to be New York’s secret weapon, plugging gaps across multiple roles so the Jets can execute their vision as planned.
