Another key Jets addition is serving up a big plate of disappointment in 2024
The Jets have a big problem with a future Hall of Famer, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Granted, this player will stroll into Canton the second he is eligible after he decides to hang up his pads. Sure, his glory years are with another franchise from NFC but he is trying to […]
The Jets have a big problem with a future Hall of Famer, and it doesn’t seem to be getting better. Granted, this player will stroll into Canton the second he is eligible after he decides to hang up his pads. Sure, his glory years are with another franchise from NFC but he is trying to make it work with the Jets. It’s obvious who I’m referring to isn’t it?
No, not Aaron Rodgers. I’m talking about Tyron Smith.
The Jets made big headlines when they signed the former Dallas Cowboys left tackle to a team friendly deal this offseason and they were continuously praised this offseason for rebuilding the offensive line. But Smith has not played up to his extremely large stature. In fact, at times he has been downright bad.
Take a look at some of his low lights so far this season:
It's important to note, these aren’t clips where he is being handled by T.J. Watt or one of the Bosas. This him being handled by frankly average players.
The Jets have been trying to rebuild their offensive line since the Rex Ryan days and they haven’t quite been able to figure it out to this point. Mekhi Becton was supposed to be a staple at left tackle, but he was essentially a staple in the training room and on the bathroom selfie page on Instagram. He is currently occupying a large space in the Philadelphia Eagles’ training room these days while acting like the bitter ex-girlfriend. But I digress.
Smith was supposed to be the anchor on this offensive line for this season, and while I have long maintained that the Jets have one of the worst offensive line coaches in the NFL, I believed that Smith was too much of a veteran presence to be affected by it. It appears that age and Keith Carter being terrible at his job are more powerful forces than Smith’s talent.
If Smith continues to play this poorly, and PFF.com has him ranked currently as the 32nd best tackle in the NFL, then the Jets won’t have to look far for his replacement. New York used the 11th overall pick on Olu Fashanu out of Penn State to not only provide depth this year at the position, but eventually to do what Becton couldn’t, and anchor the position for years to come.
Fashanu got some playing time this season when Morgan Moses went down with a knee injury, but Fashanu, who played left tackle his entire career, was out of position trying to man the right tackle spot and didn’t play particularly well. As the great Fox NFL Analyst Mark Schlereth says about trying to switch sides on the offensive line, “try wiping your ass with the other hand, you will get it done but you are going to wind up with shit on your hand”.
The Jets are currently in a hole with a 2-4 record after another embarrassing loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night. I believe that Aaron Rodgers has not played up to standard he sets for himself nor the promise he made to this organization thus far. Unfortunately, the only way for the Jets to possibly make a run at the post season this year is for him to lead the team there. He can’t do that from his back or running for his life. It’ll be up to Tyron Smith to get better, or the Jets coaching staff to replace him.
