Jets Deadline Trade Could Portend A Necessary Changing Of The Guard
An NFL offensive line is a weak-link-of-the-chain system. You can have four Pro Bowlers dominating at the line of scrimmage, but if that fifth guy blows his assignment, there’s a high risk that the play is going to bust.
The Jets have seen numerous leaks throughout the line in their 2-5 start to the season, but one player seems to have stood out as a heavy culprit amid all the miscommunications and whiffs—the rotten Greg Van Roten.
To be fair, the Long Island-raised guard has had solid outings his last two weeks as measured by the grades from ProFootballFocus.com. However, you don’t necessarily have to hone in on the stats that show Van Roten as allowing the fourth-most pressures (23) of any guard in the league this season and the sixth-worst pass blocking efficiency out of the 64 guards with at least 150 pass block snaps—the eye test also confirms some really brutal performances. In addition to the three sacks PFF charged him with, several of the Jets’ failed short-yardage attempts this season can be traced to Van Roten’s failure to execute his block.
Van Roten’s inconsistency was likely the prime motivation for Jets General Manager Joe Douglas to deal backup tight end Dan Brown to Kansas City at Tuesday’s NFL trade deadline in exchange for guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who is best known as the NFL’s only medical doctor and opted out of the 2020 season in order to assist with the COVID-19 pandemic in a long-term care facility in his native Canada. Duvernay-Tardif has not played a snap since the Chiefs Super Bowl victory in February 2020, as he was inactive for the first 7 weeks of this season following his recovery from a broken hand. He did dress for Monday night’s victory over the Giants--only to remain on the sidelines all night.
Head Coach Robert Saleh’s only previous option on New York’s interior offensive line depth chart had been Dan Feeney, who was coming off a terrible season with the Chargers and was a turnstile this preseason. That Feeney took his first and only offensive snap this season on Sunday despite all of Van Roten’s issues spoke volumes about the organization’s trust in him.
Look, no one should expect that Duvernay-Tardif will regain the form that earned him a 5-year, $42 million contract extension in 2017 (the Jets are reportedly only on the hook for the approximately $1.5 million in prorated base salary this season). If he indeed is called upon to replace Van Roten sometime in the next few weeks, though, he doesn’t have to be great; just don’t stink.
It hasn’t mattered that on the Jets’ opposite side of the line PFF has graded out rookie Elijah Vera-Tucker as the league’s 14th best guard—and 4th best over the last three games. Until the Jets inserted AFC Offensive Player of the Week Mike White and his quick release (average 2.31 seconds time to throw per dropback, third-quickest in Week 8) for injured quarterback Zach Wilson in Sunday’s 34-31 victory over visiting Cincinnati, Gang Green was the NFL’s lowest-scoring offense.
You look at Indianapolis, the Jets’ host for Thursday night’s prime-time affair who employ one of the best guards in the league in Quenton Nelson, and they’re just 1-4 in the games he’s played. The Colts’ pass blocking efficiency, as calculated by PFF, is not only worse than the Jets’, they’re worse than every NFL team.
Until the Jets mend their weakest link, no matter who receives the snap at QB will be in peril.
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Speaking of the Jets quarterback situation, let’s not fit White for that yellow Hall of Fame jacket just yet. As much fun as it was to watch White, in his first NFL start, throw for 405 yards to lead the Jets to a fourth-quarter comeback victory over the Bengals, maybe we should wait for Thursday’s result before declaring that New York has a quarterback controversy.
There’s now a book on White. I mentioned in my prior column how odd it was that Cincinnati didn’t adjust to try to squeeze the field and make White beat them over the top—he never needed to throw the ball over 20 yards, according to PFF. Well, that’s not entirely accurate—he did attempt one on a play that was negated by a Jets holding penalty. On that deep route, White overshot a wide open Elijah Moore by about a country mile.
Playing on the road will be a different perspective for White. Look for the Colts to be more aware of the Jets running backs in the flat and attempt to force White to throw outside the hash marks, like the way opposing defenses used to game plan against Chad Pennington.
Saleh doesn’t have to answer any questions about who his QB will be going forward. If White reprises his efficiency on Thursday night, it’s a given that he’ll start again when the Bills come to town in Week 10, no matter where Wilson is in his recovery from his PCL strain. If he doesn’t, he’ll always have that one Sunday to cherish.
End of controversy.
Prediction: Colts 33 Jets 23