USAT: Jets Wire audio clip

USAT: Jets Wire

Feb 2, 2022

Mekhi Becton won’t be handed the starting left tackle job in 2022. - After Becton missed 16 full games this past season, Robert Saleh said the 2020 first-rounder must earn his job back from George Fant, who started in Becton’s place after he dislocated his kneecap in Week 1. Fant played well after switching to the left side of the offensive line and allowed just 18 pressures in 2021, the third-fewest in the league. - “As I’ve told George Fant, he has a chance to maintain that position,” Saleh said Tuesday in Mobile, Alabama, where the Jets are coaching at the Senior Bowl. “It’s the same thing for Mekhi Becton. He has to come in and reassert himself into the starting lineup.” - It’s a tough call for the Jets at a key position. The team drafted Becton 11th overall in 2020 and he had a great rookie season. Becton graded out as the 13th-best left tackle in the NFL and allowed just 24 pressures over 412 pass-block snaps. But a devastating knee injury ruined his sophomore year and gave way to Fant, who was already pegged as the team’s starting right tackle but proved even better at Becton’s position. - Fant could return to the right side, though, if the Jets don’t re-sign Morgan Moses and aren’t comfortable with any of the draft or free agent options. But he showed enough promise as a left tackle to warrant a hard look in 2022. - “It’d be a disservice to George and the work that he’s put in and the things he was able to do this year to just tell him that he can’t compete for that job,” Saleh added. “I think Mekhi has the skill set to do whatever he wants. He just has to put his mind to it.” - - It sounds like the Jets will have a true competition at the left tackle this offseason and summer. Saleh even said the team could draft another left tackle and have Becton compete on the right side, according to The Athletic’s Connor Hughes. There are several solid prospects the Jets could look at with one of their two first-round or two second-round picks, including Alabama’s Evan Neal, Mississippi State’s Charles Cross and N.C. State’s Ikem Ekwonu. - Saleh seems excited, rather than concerned, about the Jets’ uncertainty on the offensive line. - “We’re kind of spoiled in that regard that we’ve got two really, really good tackles,” he said, “and it’s going to be great to watch those guys compete.” - - List - - Jets Free Agent Profile: What to do with OT Morgan Moses? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Email - - - - - Sign up - - - - - - - - Like this article? - Sign up for the Jets Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning - - - - An error has occured - - - Please re-enter your email address. - - - - - - Thanks for signing up! - - - You'll now receive the top Jets Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.

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