The Jets lost to the Cleveland Browns in the Hall of Fame Game by a final of 21-16 on Thursday night. But the results of the game don’t matter.

What mattered from Thursday night, on both sidelines, was that players stayed healthy, and they made roster decisions easier on the coaches. Whether those decisions were players who needed to stay or go is up to the coaches.

One player for the New York Jets made a resounding statement. It’s time for Mekhi Becton to go.

Entering the game, Saleh said Becton would receive anywhere from 20-to-25 snaps. But the fourth-year player played seven snaps in his first game since suffering a season-ending knee injury last year during training camp before taking himself out.

Why?

“That turf isn’t friendly for people of my size with my type of injury,” Becton said. “So I was feeling it in warmups.” 

Here comes another excuse from the man who has made more of them than blocks in the NFL.

What a load of absolute B.S. I get that it’s the Hall of Fame game and there is no reason to push anyone, but come on. Is Becton going to have a list of approved playing surfaces for people of his size to give Saleh? What about locker room flooring? It is rubberized flooring its okay, but if it’s hard wood he can’t go?

When asked if he has to just gain more confidence in the knee in order to keep going he replied “I wouldn’t say have to get more confident, I just gotta know that this is my new normal. I’m going to have days where is painful and I’m going to have days where it’s not painful.”

That sounds terrible for Becton and I honestly feel bad if that if that is the case. Nobody should have to live in constant pain or fear of a pain. That being said, are the Jets supposed to entrust one of their most important positions in the hopes that game day is a “non-painful” day?

Players play through pain. If they can’t, they retire. Becton seems to want the team to count on him while working at his own pace and picking which days he can go and which days he can’t.

From the team standpoint, it seems like the coaches and doctors are expecting Becton to be much further along than he is and the fact that he isn’t might have them wondering if it is a knee issue or is it a heart issue.

Becton might be one of the biggest (literally) busts in New York Jets history. With Duane Brown out, trade winds swirling and reports of him not wanting to move from the left tackle spot, this was his chance to show something other than his sweaty reflection in the bathroom mirror.

At this point, the Jets should cut their losses and trade Becton for whatever compensation they can swindle out of another team. He clearly is set on a path of determining when he is able to play based on whatever excuse he comes up with each day.

He can’t be counted on and he will never be the best player version of himself on the Jets. Maybe he needs a change of scenery to kick start his NFL career, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

He seems like a guy that will always be a “what could have been” type of player.

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