Florham Park, N.J.—Entering the preseason, one of the biggest concerns regarding the New York Jets’ roster was their offensive line depth.
However, during the squad’s first preseason game on Friday night, New York’s backup offensive line performed better than expected.
Despite that, though, there are still flaws in multiple areas with the second unit. The main concern lies with pass protection.
Here is a look at every backup’s snap count from Friday night and their run and pass-blocking grades from Pro Football Focus.
- Anez Cooper, G, 28 snaps: 89.5 run-blocking, 85.2 pass-blocking
- Kohl Levao, G, 21 snaps: 87.7 run-blocking, 7.6 pass-blocking
- Landon Young, T, 28 snaps: 86.2 run-blocking, 42.9 pass-blocking
- Xavier Newman, G, 21 snaps: 80.4 run-blocking, 33.3 pass-blocking
- Chukwuma Okorafor, T, 21 snaps: 79.2 run-blocking, 80.7 pass-blocking
- Marquis Hayes, G, 21 snaps: 71.7 run-blocking, 83.8 pass-blocking
- Liam Fornadel, G, 28 snaps: 62.2 run-blocking, 81.3 pass-blocking
- Xavier Hill, G, 28 snaps: 61.4 run-blocking, 77.3 pass-blocking
- Courtland Ford, T, 28 snaps: 60.6 run-blocking, 32.6 pass-blocking
Anez Cooper graded as one of the NFL’s best guards in Week 1 of the preseason, which is highly encouraging to see from a sixth-round rookie.
Kohl Levao’s 87.7 run-blocking grade finished seventh among 102 qualified guards for Week 1 of the preseason, while his abysmal 7.6 pass-protecting mark finished 101st. He surrendered a sack and two hurries.
Levao, Landon Young, and Xavier Newman each graded out very well against the run but seemed to struggle in pass protection. Newman’s pass-blocking struggles are concerning, as he is on track to be the Jets’ backup center.
The Jets’ most established backup, right tackle Chukwuma Okorafor, who has started 60 games at right tackle throughout his career, had the best all-around performance on Friday night, which was expected. That’s a good sign from Armand Membou’s backup.
Marquis Hayes also delivered a solid outing and was the Jets’ second-highest-graded pass-blocker among the backups with an 83.8 grade.
Overall, though, the inconsistency among the Jets’ backup offensive linemen proves exactly why the front office should look to add at least one, if not two, more established backups around cutdown day.
Aside from Okorafor, the Jets lack a backup with significant starting experience. If one of the Jets’ three interior offensive linemen were to go down with injury, the replacement options are extremely concerning.
Most likely, to even make it work, the team would need to shuffle pieces around while still inserting an unproven backup.
The good news, however, is that several solid backup offensive linemen typically shake loose around cutdown day. Perhaps the Jets will see how their backups fare in the final two preseason games before making a decision.
If they were urgent about improving the unit, though, it is presumable that they would have made an effort to add to it more aggressively between free agency, trades, and the draft.
While the organization drafted Anez Cooper, it would be far from ideal to have a sixth-round rookie start games for the team this year. New York needs more experience behind the starting lineup.
The chances of all five starters being healthy for all 17 games two years in a row are low. With that in mind, the Jets should do everything in their power to strengthen their contingency plans for when starters inevitably miss time.
