One of the New York Jets’ most overlooked free agent signings suddenly appears as though it may be one of their most important for 2025
The Jets were just dealt a brutal hand on their offensive line. An afterthought free agent may now be the key to surviving the injury in 2025.
The New York Jets‘ 2025 season is all about the team’s foundation. Head coach Aaron Glenn and company are looking to establish an identity — one that can be leaned on to help the Jets close the gap between the rest of the AFC East.
New York’s presumed identity, at least on offense, was to be physical in the trenches and effective running the football. Thanks to an offensive line that features two top-12 overall picks at offensive tackle and two more interior players who were drafted in the top-50 of their respective drafts, the blueprint was easy to see.
That blueprint has been shaken with just days remaining before New York’s first game of the 2025 season. Alijah Vera-Tucker, the team’s projected starting right guard and the 14th-overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, has gone down with an upper-body injury, and it is feared he could miss most of the 2025 season. Now, one of the Jets’ most overlooked free agent moves of the offseason could be a critical piece of the puzzle for New York to salvage their offensive identity.
Enter Josh Myers.
Josh Myers will be vital to Jets surviving the Alijah Vera-Tucker injury
Myers was a three-year starter for the Green Bay Packers after being drafted in the second round of the 2021 NFL Draft out of Ohio State. He’s played over 3,000 snaps during the last three seasons while starting 49 of a possible 51 games in the regular season since 2022. Yet, despite playing as a serviceable starter in Green Bay over that stretch, Myers found himself with little to no appeal on the free agent market.
Some of that may have been dictated by a leg injury suffered against the Philadelphia Eagles in the postseason, although reports indicated he’d avoided severe injury last winter anyway. Nevertheless, Myers was a 26-year-old veteran in the prime of his career, who mysteriously found little in the way of a market. That’s fair to assume based on the one-year contract he signed in New York. The Jets’ loss of Vera-Tucker is now to be Myers’ gain, however. When Myers signed in New York, his deal featured $2 million in guarantees and an additional $1.5 million in playtime and performance incentives. He’s now set to start amid the loss of Vera-Tucker at right guard.
That cheap of a contract, while names like Aaron Banks and Will Fries are pushing $20 million a season on new deals, suggests that Myers was an afterthought. The Jets, even at the cost of Myers maxing out his performance incentives, appear to still have a hell of a bargain on their hands — one that must now prove himself as a starter with another chance to cash in next offseason.
If Myers plays well in New York, don’t expect him to be playing for such a cheap contract once again in 2026. He’ll need to prove himself the savior of New York’s big plans up front first, though.
New York Jets News
Jets suffer a big blow that could wreck their game plan not only for Week 1, but for 2025, following latest injury news
Not ideal.
