According to multiple reports, New York Jets guard Alijah Vera-Tucker has suffered a “potentially serious” arm injury in practice. It will likely keep him out of Sunday’s season opener against the Pittsburgh Steelers, and potentially much longer.
Let’s unpack the resulting domino effect that is caused by AVT’s injury.
Effect on Vera-Tucker’s outlook
If this injury costs Vera-Tucker his season (or even just a large chunk of it), his time with the Jets could be nearing its end.
Vera-Tucker is coming off a relatively healthy season (15 starts) in which he fulfilled his first-round potential and established himself as one of the NFL’s top guards. Pro Football Focus ranked him as the league’s 11th-best guard (77.7 overall grade) among those to play at least 500 snaps. He earned grades of 74+ as both a pass and run blocker, while committing just five penalties.
Yet, the Jets decided not to extend Vera-Tucker, whereas they signed two 2022 draft picks, Sauce Gardner and Garrett Wilson, to mammoth long-term extensions.
This was due to Vera-Tucker’s already extensive injury history. Vera-Tucker suffered a season-ending torn triceps in Week 7 of the 2022 season, followed by a season-ending torn Achilles in Week 5 of the 2023 season. He also missed two games with an ankle injury in 2024.
If Vera-Tucker adds another serious injury to that list, it becomes all but guaranteed that New York will not sign him to a long-term deal. He could return on a one-year prove-it deal, but his chances of signing a long-term contract (with any team) would be off the table until he proves his reliability.
Jets’ new starting five
With Vera-Tucker sidelined, the Jets’ starting five against Pittsburgh will likely look like this:
- LT Olu Fashanu
- LG John Simpson
- C Josh Myers
- RG Joe Tippmann
- RT Armand Membou
Joe Tippmann, the Jets’ likely starting center, will shift to right guard, where he played to begin his 2023 rookie season. Josh Myers will start at center to fill Tippmann’s shoes.
Tippmann and Myers have been embroiled in a competition for the starting center job, but Tippmann was clearly the better player in 2024, and that appeared to be the case throughout training camp and the preseason. Yet, the Jets have declined to announce a starter going into Week 1. Most likely, though, it was going to be Tippmann.
With Vera-Tucker sidelined, Tippmann is their best option to fill in at right guard, which means Myers will end up being the starting center after all.
Effect of Vera-Tucker to Tippmann at RG
AVT’s injury is objectively negative for the Jets as a team. There is no sugarcoating it.
But the lone silver lining is that it could lead to an improvement in Tippmann’s performance – and an upward curve in his career trajectory.
Tippmann arguably projects as a better guard than center. While Tippmann was playing well at center (ranking as PFF’s eighth-best center out of 32 qualifiers in 2024), he struggled in multiple areas that are unique to the center position, specifically snapping the ball and anchoring the communication of the offensive line.
Tippmann struggled with errant snaps throughout 2024, an issue that carried into the 2025 preseason. It was also common to see miscommunications in the pass and run schemes between the offensive linemen, which usually traces back to the center (especially if you have a trusty veteran like Aaron Rodgers calling the shots).
Additionally, Tippmann struggled with identifying blitz threats and knowing where to provide help, which is critical for a center, since they often do not have a one-on-one matchup and must properly assess where their help is most needed.
At guard, all of these issues would be negated. Tippmann would not have to snap the ball, nor would he have to call and set the protections. In pass protection, he would spend more time blocking one-on-one and less time scanning the field to provide help.
Tippmann could just do what he does best: Be an athlete.
Tippmann is an exceptional athlete for an interior lineman, especially relative to his height (6-foot-6), and it shows on the field between his zone-blocking and his one-on-one pass protection. Those traits would be highlighted at guard.
Because of the competition with Myers, Tippmann got reps at guard in training camp. These typically came at left guard in place of the injured John Simpson (who returned to practice recently), but Tippmann started four games at right guard in his rookie season. It’s positive for Tippmann and the Jets that he has already been preparing for this moment throughout the summer.
Jets fans can expect Tippmann to make a smooth transition to the right guard position. He probably won’t be as strong as Vera-Tucker, who was an elite all-around performer on film, but he should be a well-above-average starter.
There will likely be a downgrade at right guard, albeit a relatively modest one. At center, though, it’s a different story.
Effect of Tippmann to Myers at C
The Jets will feel the loss of AVT at center more than they will at right guard.
Tippmann’s move to right guard will lead to Myers – a backup – starting at center for the foreseeable future.
Regardless of the Jets’ attempts to sell the public on a fair competition, Tippmann is obviously a better player than Myers and was always going to start. The competition was likely a coaching tactic from Aaron Glenn intended to push the young Tippmann to greater heights.
Myers offers the quality of a bottom-tier starter. That makes him a high-quality backup, so the good news is that the Jets could be in a much worse spot right now. However, Myers netted a one-year deal worth $2 million guaranteed in free agency for a reason.
In 2024, Myers earned a 55.7 overall grade at PFF, placing 29th out of 32 qualified centers.
Myers has plenty of experience, logging 56 starts in four seasons for the competitive Packers, which is a positive for the Jets. Like Tippmann, he has a second-round pedigree, so there is some talent that could potentially be unlocked by a new scheme and coaching staff.
However, the experience and draft pedigree did not translate into production over four years with a well-oiled Packers machine. The Jets are now looking at a full season of a bottom-five starter at center.
The downgrade will be felt the strongest in specific areas. In some areas, the drop-off from Tippmann to Myers may not be large.
For starters, Myers is not known for having issues with his snap accuracy, so the Jets may actually enjoy an upgrade in that area.
Myers also has good awareness in pass protection. In Joe Blewett’s scouting report of Myers, the first two strengths listed were his awareness and his active eyes. Blewett also praised Myers’ ability to handle stunts and blitzes, which Tippmann tends to struggle with at center.
These pass-blocking positives are somewhat negated by Myers’ issues in one-on-one pass protection, an area where Tippmann has a slight advantage. According to NFL Next Gen Stats, Tippmann allowed a 6.6% pressure rate in one-on-one situations (16th) while Myers allowed a 7.7% pressure rate in one-on-one situations (23rd).
Overall, PFF graded Tippmann and Myers closely in pass protection. Tippmann placed 21st out of 32 qualifiers with a 63.1 grade, while Myers placed 15th with a 64.9 grade.
In pass protection, going from Tippmann to Myers might end up being a wash. It’s the run-blocking that will suffer.
Tippmann placed seventh-best at the position with a 77.3 run-blocking grade, whereas Myers placed 31st with a poor 52.2 mark.
Blewett’s scouting report backs up the numbers. These are just a few of the many run-blocking weaknesses that Blewett discovered in his film review of Myers:
- Can chase combo blocks
- Feet inactive in run game
- Gets “splashed” too often
- Plays high
- Doesn’t create much movement when isolated
- Tends to lunge in contact window on 2nd level
- Grip strength
- Ducks head into run blocks too often
- Gets undercut on 2nd level
For a Jets team that could end up running the football more than anyone in 2025, this is a big deal.
Overall short-term impact
To summarize, here is what the Jets could be dealing with in the short term.
At right guard, Tippmann projects for an improvement in his performance. This should make him a slight downgrade compared to Vera-Tucker.
Whereas Vera-Tucker displayed elite technique and athleticism in both phases, Tippmann likely will not quite reach those heights. Still, he should be very good in both phases without the pressure on his shoulders to handle the mental aspects of the center position.
At center, Myers projects to be an overall significant downgrade compared to Tippmann.
The pass protection could be a wash, although it may be a slight downgrade depending on how Tippmann was developing at center. Myers arguably offers better awareness and communication, although Tippmann’s edge in one-on-one pass protection gives him a higher ceiling if he could have figured out the mental aspects of the position, especially since he is three years younger and has more room to improve.
There will likely be a substantial downgrade in the run game. Tippmann is a tremendous athlete who carried his lengthy frame for the center position very effectively. Myers is a decent athlete in his own right with similar height, but he is littered with technical issues as a run blocker, causing him to whiff frequently on run blocks.
This is a fair projection:
- C (Tippmann to Myers): Wash or minor downgrade in pass protection / Major downgrade in run blocking
- RG (Vera-Tucker to Tippmann): Slight downgrade in pass protection / Slight downgrade in run blocking
Long-term implications
If Tippmann thrives at right guard in Vera-Tucker’s absence, the Jets could extend him long-term as their right guard of the future. It would be a major victory for Tippmann’s financial potential compared to staying at center, while the Jets would be able to quickly fill Vera-Tucker’s shoes.
That would leave the center position as a hole to be filled, but it is generally easier to find centers in the draft or free agency than guards; that’s why they make the least money and are rarely taken in the first round.
New York could also turn its attention to extending left guard John Simpson. With one less player on the offensive line due to be extended, there is more wiggle room to sign Simpson, who emerged as a high-quality starter in 2024 and is due to become a free agent after the 2025 season. Simpson, who has never missed an NFL game due to injury, is an attractive player to extend long-term.
If all goes according to plan, the Jets could enter 2026 with Simpson and Tippmann secured at guard and a rookie draft pick at center.
A devastating blow
There is no dancing around the reality that this is an enormous blow for the Jets’ offense. This team projects to rely on its offensive line even more than most teams in the NFL, and its collective talent from one to five was the main reason to have any optimism about the offense as a whole. Now, it has lost its best player.
The good news is that New York is about as well-prepared for this as a team could be. They have a starter ready to slide into Vera-Tucker’s shoes and perform even better than he does at his usual position. There might not be a significant downgrade there.
The Jets also have about as solid a backup center as you could hope for. As limited as Myers may be, he is better than most backup centers around the league. Many teams would be throwing a much worse player into the starting lineup in this situation.
Still, the Jets are swapping out an elite right guard for a backup center. That’s a huge hit no matter how you slice it.
At full strength, the Jets’ offensive line may not have had a weak link. Perhaps Armand Membou will be one in his rookie year, but he is talented enough to perform at least competently in his first season. It was immensely appealing to have a five-man unit devoid of any starters who could be easily exploited.
Now, though, the Jets are starting a backup. Suddenly, there is a weak link to be exploited, specifically in the phase of the game New York wants to build its offense around: the run game.
That is where the Jets are going to feel this loss. Vera-Tucker is one of the most athletic and technically sound run-blockers in the NFL. He’s out, and his replacement is a player who was one of the worst run-blocking centers in 2024.
Before even reaching Week 1, first-year offensive line coach Steve Heiden and first-year offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand have been presented with an immense challenge.
If Heiden and Engstrand are the real deal, though, the Jets should be able to work through this.
More than any other position group, the offensive line’s success is dictated by its ability to perform as one, rather than its collective talent level. With the proper chemistry, communication, discipline, and technique, an offensive line can survive the loss of one player.
The teams that consistently field elite offensive lines do not have the same five starters on the field every year, let alone five players with strong reputations. Their success is anchored by the coaching staff’s ability to keep the machine chugging even if a cog or two jars loose and has to be replaced with a spare part.
From Dante Scarnecchia in New England to Jeff Stoutland with today’s Eagles, great coaches establish a system that can stay afloat through adversity. Their teaching techniques are designed to create a sense of stability within the scheme, allowing any player to step in and be successful as just one of five guys doing their jobs properly.
The Jets’ previous coaching staff could not do that. It’s why when Vera-Tucker went down in 2022 and 2023, the entire offensive line instantly fell apart. Vera-Tucker’s sheer talent kept those units afloat when he was on the field. Without his talent, the Jets’ offensive line was toast – because they did not know how to play as one.
Will this Jets coaching staff be different?
We will find out quickly.