Three years after being chosen in the second round out of Wisconsin, versatile offensive lineman Joe Tippmann has re-upped with the team that drafted him.
On Monday, Tippmann signed a four-year, $66.4 million extension to stick with the New York Jets. It’s a deal that stands out as an excellent value for New York.
These three stats prove why re-signing Tippmann at that price was a no-brainer for the Jets.
1. Development into an elite pass protector
Tippmann faced some adversity before the 2025 season even began. Less than a week before the season, he was forced to move to right guard after spending the prior season and the entire summer working at center.
The late switch took Tippmann some time to adapt to. But once he settled in, he showed a limitless ceiling as an interior pass protector.
From Weeks 7-18, Tippmann earned an 81.4 pass-blocking grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking first among right guards. He also allowed a pressure rate of just 3.34%, placing fifth-best.
The next challenge for Tippmann is to maintain that over a full season. He struggled mightily over the first six weeks, contributing to the Jets’ 0-6 start.
In fairness to Tippmann, he was blocking for a quarterback in Justin Fields who holds the ball longer than just about any quarterback, inflating the total pressures allowed by the offensive line. This year, with Geno Smith under center, that excuse won’t be quite as prominent, so Tippmann will be expected to put up strong numbers in protection for the entire year.
But it’s exciting for the Jets to have seen Tippmann display an elite ceiling as a pass-blocker for an 11-game span to close the year. When it comes to contract extensions, you’re paying for future production, not past production, and when you see that type of upward trajectory from a 25-year-old player with a second-round pedigree, it’s worth investing in.
2. Hands off
While Tippmann was charged with six penalties in 2025, only one of those was for holding. In 2024, he had just two holding penalties. That gives Tippmann a measly total of three holding penalties over his last 34 starts.
On the negative side, Tippmann had four false starts in 2025. However, that’s the type of penalty that could be chalked up to the overall congruency and communication of the entire offense, rather than merely an indictment of Tippmann alone. With a first-year play-caller and a struggling young quarterback, the Jets’ offense was never on the same page.
Now, the Jets have a veteran quarterback and a veteran offensive coordinator. The hope is that the communication across the offense will be cleaner, eliminating the lack of chemistry that could cause rampant false starts. If those are removed from Tippmann’s game, he is poised to be a very low-penalty guard thanks to his ability to avoid holding calls, which are more in the individual’s control than false starts.
3. Positional versatility
Versatility is always a major plus for offensive linemen, especially when you’re investing in them long-term. A player who can play multiple positions helps create the flexibility for his team to put the best possible five-man combination on the field at any given moment.
In his career, Tippmann has logged 1,720 snaps at center and 1,243 snaps at right guard. It’s at right guard where Tippmann appears to be at his best, and is expected to start in 2026, but it’s a huge plus to know that Tippmann can slide over to center and still be a plus starter.
When he started all 17 games at center in 2024, Tippmann earned a 73.4 overall grade from Pro Football Focus, ranking ninth among 47 qualifiers. That’s plenty good enough for Tippmann to essentially be viewed as a backup center, especially considering the Jets’ extreme lack of interior offensive line depth at the moment.
To be clear, there are multiple reasons that Tippmann projects better as a guard. Firstly, he struggled mightily with snap accuracy as a center, which is negated at the guard position.
On top of that, Tippmann is more impressive from a physical standpoint than with the mental aspects of offensive line play. As a center, the mental side is emphasized to a much higher degree than at the other offensive line spots, so moving over to guard takes a huge amount of mental weight off his plate, while allowing his unique athletic gifts to shine more brightly.
It is also important to recognize that Tippmann can add more value as a guard.
Centers rarely handle one-on-one reps with star pass rushers. Guards have to spend significantly more reps in one-on-one battles with dominant three-techniques, which makes them more valuable over the course of a game and a season. Since Tippmann has shown a high ceiling as a pass blocker, he can impact the game much more heavily as a right guard contending with the Chris Joneses of the world than as a center.
With all of that said, Tippmann’s ability to provide above-average center play in a pinch makes him all the more valuable. Injuries are always bound to happen, so it helps immensely to have versatile players like Tippmann locked into your offensive line for the long haul.
