On Oct. 6, I wrote that the New York Jets “had an Olu Fashanu problem.”
Most certainly, they did. Fashanu, New York’s hopeful franchise left tackle and former 11th overall pick in the 2024 draft, was struggling mightily to protect the quarterback’s blind side.
Through Week 5, Fashanu led NFL left tackles with 18 total pressures allowed, per Pro Football Focus. It also ranked as the most among Jets offensive linemen.
While that number was partially influenced by the ball-holding tendencies of the Jets’ quarterbacks, Fashanu still didn’t look great in metrics designed to isolate linemen from their quarterbacks. His pass-blocking grade at PFF was a mediocre 62.0, ranking 22nd out of 30 qualified left tackles.
It was a disappointing start for the Penn State product. However, it was important to realize that Fashanu came into this season as a 22-year-old player with five career starts at left tackle. In many ways, he was still a rookie as he endured his rough opening stretch in 2025.
As it turns out, a little bit of time may have been all Fashanu needed to fulfill his potential.
Olu Fashanu’s breakout
Coinciding directly with the Oct. 6 article, Fashanu started to turn a corner. Over his last seven games, Fashanu has looked like one of the best left tackles in football.
Since Week 6, Fashanu has posted a pass-blocking grade of 80.9, ranking sixth-best among qualified left tackles. He joins some phenomenal company:
Best PFF pass-blocking grades among left tackles (min. 200 offensive snaps), Weeks 6-13, 2025:
- Jake Matthews, ATL (85.9)
- Andrew Thomas, NYG (83.9)
- Laremy Tunsil, WAS (83.3)
- Garett Bolles, NYJ (82.2)
- Trent Williams, SF (81.3)
- Olu Fashanu, NYJ (80.9)
- Tristan Wirfs, TB (79.4)
- Jordan Mailata, PHI (78.7)
- Josh Simmons, KC (78.1)
- Bernhard Raimann, IND (77.7)
Not a bad list of names to be on.
Fashanu has been beaten much less frequently over this span. After yielding 18 pressures on 203 pass-blocking snaps (8.9% pressure rate) through Week 5, Fashanu has given up just 14 pressures on 243 pressures since then (5.8% pressure rate).
What makes Fashanu’s statistical progress impressive is that he has achieved it despite the Jets’ quarterbacks continuing to hang onto the football. Since Week 6, the combination of Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor has held the ball for an average of 3.12 seconds per dropback, ranking second-longest in the NFL behind only the Chicago Bears.
When watching film of the Jets’ recent games, there are many instances where you can see Fashanu holding up on an island for extended periods of time. His ability to sustain his blocks has been crucial in enabling Fields and Taylor to utilize their legs.
Here’s another stat that will get Jets fans giddy: Over the last seven games, Fashanu has not committed a single penalty. (Technically, the play-by-play tagged him for a false start in last week’s game against Atlanta, but that penalty was actually on “everyone except the center,” as announced by the officials.)
If we exclude that flag, Fashanu has gone 421 offensive snaps without a penalty since Week 6, the most among offensive tackles over that span.
New York’s young blindside protector has turned a corner as of late, and Jets fans should be ecstatic about what that means for the future. With rookie right tackle Armand Membou already bursting onto the scene as a rookie star, the Jets are poised to walk into 2026 with trusty building blocks on both sides of the line. That’s an attractive situation for a potential young quarterback to walk into.
For Fashanu, the key at this point is to keep this stretch going for another five games. Right now, his hot streak is only a couple of games longer than his cold streak to begin the season, meaning they nearly wash each other out across the cumulative body of work. To cement 2025 as a legitimate breakout year that establishes his building-block status, he must turn this seven-game run into a 12-game run.
Fashanu’s next test will be Dolphins edge rusher Bradley Chubb, who handles the majority of Miami’s pass-rush snaps off the right edge. Like Fashanu, Chubb got off to a cold start this season, but he’s caught fire recently, helping to spark Miami’s improved play.
Since Week 9, Chubb ranks fourth among edge rushers with 5.8 pressures per game. Over his first eight games, Chubb averaged only 1.8 pressures per game.
Fashanu hopes to send Chubb crashing back down to Earth on Sunday, and the Jets’ division rivals down with him.
