After a knee injury knocked him out for the majority of the 2021 campaign, Mekhi Becton is expected to slide back into the starting lineup…just maybe not at left tackle. When speaking with reporters today, Jets head coach Joe Douglas wouldn’t definitively say whether Becton will slot in at his usual starting spot.
“[W]e are operating like Mekhi is going to be one of our two tackles,” Douglas said, via Brian Costello of the New York Post. “That’s our expectation that he’s going to come back ready to roll. I know he’s fired up to get back on the field and compete.”
When the Jets drafted Becton with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 draft, he was expected to be their starting left tackle for the foreseeable future. He started 13 games at the position during his rookie campaign, and he was expected to slide back into that spot in 2021. However, midway through the first game of the 2021 season, Becton suffered a knee injury that ultimately kept him off the field for the rest of the year.
As ESPN’s Rich Cimini writes, the Jets may not be committing to Becton at left tackle in the hopes that the player “gets the message and fulfills his immense potential.” Further, Cimini opines that George Fant, who started 15 games at left tackle last year, deserves to defend his starting spot. There’s a good chance that the loser of the LT competition would simply slide over to RT, but Cimini leaves open the possibility that the Jets could select an offensive tackle with the fourth overall pick, which would force one of Fant or Becton to the bench.
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