So why would you make up the part about him being a "malcontent"? If you see red flags point them out as you did this time around instead of embellishing your views with things that never happened. That doesn't seem to agree with your claim that you're hoping for him to succeed.
Becton had a very promising first year. As good as you couod hope for and very much on a par with Wirfs - with a number of analysts actually preferring Becton. There is no evidence that Wirfs would have transitioned to LT smoothly, no evidence that he wouldn't either, its just a complete unknown because he's never played there. Becton was the Jets best lineman in game 1 and preseason although the line was a mess at that point. He struggled with Lawson in camp but that was camp. Short of a longer than expected recovery to an unavoidable injury (which looked a likely season-ender at the time) and some camp struggles I can't see why he's suddenly a likely bust rather than a foundational piece to build around. Sure the injury healing time concern is legit but no one here knows why he's taken this long recover. Other than that I see no reason to suddenly call him a likely bust other than SoJ syndrome.
The most concerning thing to me is how Saleh hasn't been much warmer when questioned about Becton than he has about Mims. If there were no concerns beneath the surface about MB I think Saleh would just emphatically give his support for him but he's not doing that.
As far as his behavior and his weight, those are things I see can be worked on. The guy is early 20s, most people are immature at that point. The body starts acclimation to the routine of the game and unless he really does have an eating disorder then he can get that right. My main concern is his frame vs his tendons and how long he can keep it up pulling upfield half the game. It is not an urban myth that the guys who have historically run this offense have sought out undersized tackles who were mobile because of the scheme, and not a coincidence that Fant is doing well. I think Becton is physically and mentally gifted enough to do the job but how long can his body take it before Big Man Syndrome sets in?
I didn't make up anything. He's clearly a problem now and it's the GM's job to figure out if that's going to happen prior to drafting him. You don't take a guy 11th overall with character concerns which it's now clear Becton has. Like I said, failing the combine drug test alone was grounds to question his character.
No question in retrospect we should picked Wirfs - this was an undeniable mistake. My only point was that Becton looked very promising after having a good rookie season, and having improved protection in the last 7 games along with good run blocking all year. Unfortunately he regressed in training camp, showed terrible work ethics by being overweight, and continued being injury prone from rookie year by injured throughout camp, then sat out all year with injury that should have been 1/4 - 1/2 of that. Utter disappointment. In the mean time Wirfs followed up excellent rookie year with Pro Bowl campaign this year. If there was ANY question at the time if Wirfs should have been the pick, it has been answered. JD, whether because he wanted LT specifically and rated them similarly, or because he liked Becton's athleticism, made a wrong pick, there is no doubt about that. Imagine if we had Fant as LT and Wirfs as RT now with AVT at LG. The only hope is Becton comes back in shape and keeps himself healthy and maybe transitions to RT if that helps. And it's hard to imagine him getting in shape at this point.
I share the concerns about him physically but I've seen enough red flags on the mental side to have concerns about that too. -He failed the combine drug test -He was openly supporting a Darnold trade on social media while Darnold was still on the team -He had attitude when responding to LaFleur's comments about him playing poorly despite him clearly playing poorly according to pretty much every beat writer All of those are things you should know not to do by the time you're Becton's age. We can also read between the lines on a lot of Saleh's comments about "having the right attitude, the right mentality, maturity" regarding Becton. Saleh's way too positive of a guy to ever call a player out publicly. For him to even go as far as he did with Becton says a lot about what he truly thinks about him imo.
The drug test, maybe signs he likes THC a little too much. We don't have any firm basis to be concerned other than the drug test on that, though. The social media thing I immediately dismissed. Welcome to now. If any of us got famous and our TGG post history went public, I'm sure many of us would be in hot water. Mulligan from me, even in a public capacity. The LaFleur thing is a young ass OC trying to assert authority on a cocky young first round pick coming off a promising rookie season. And you can bet LaFleur has the Shanahan Bible with him telling him who is a good fit for his O and who is not, so I think there's some blame to go around. It bothers me a little for both but it could be something that is far in the rearview for all we know. People aren't perfect, man. Some of the best players in history were total assholes.
This It’s crazy to me that we as a fan base (our representative base here) are turning on this guy. He was universally seen as a stud year one. I agree I’m a bit concerned about his ability to stay healthy - but the takes on this thread are a bit much. he’s far from one of problem as a team - he’s much closer to a solution / building block. Jeesh - give the guy and break and let him try to come back from this injury and show you want he has. I’m inclined to say we’ll be pleased with what he’ll bring when he’s playing again
Your last point is the "tiebreaker" for me when deciding whether to keep him or let him go. Of course I wouldn't give him up without a boatload in return, similar to the Adams haul. If Douglas can't get close to that, I'd keep him and hope for the best. He can't be worse than Edoga can he?
I disagree that he was a stud year one. This is a classic Jets fanism. We draft true studs so infrequently that we overrate the ones who play decently early as studs because we're so used to outright busts. This, in turn, causes a lot of our fans to defend guys for too long after that because they've anchored their opinions to the initial overrating. Becton played decently as a rookie. He was good in run blocking and relatively bad in pass protection. That's not a stud, it's a guy who's decent. A little bit of good and a little bit of bad. We have concerns because we now have a bevy of off the field issues combined with injury concerns for a guy who was just decent in the one year he did stay relatively healthy. The total picture should be more cause for concern than optimism.
What we all anticipated is now official. Becton's season is over. Awful 2nd year for the young man. Hopefully he gets that knee fully healed and comes to OTAs and TC ready to rock and roll.
While we agree Wirfs was better in year one, and it's not even close now, we need to be accurate, Becton had 76 pff grade in pass pro in year one, which is very good, and even better towards the end of year. Excellent run blocker too. Everyone called him a foundational piece, not just the Jets. Now, Wirfs was great in year one, and is even better now, so it's not a competition any more, but we need acknowledge Becton had a good year in his rookie year. The biggest concern was the injuries, since he was out quite a bit, and could not finish a few games he started in addition to missing some. Played hurt in some games too. Unfortunately this concern has been taken to the next level now with him being overweight, injured in camp several times, and finally missing a whole year on the injury that should have taken a lot less to the point there is a bust concern, but his rookie year was good by any standard.
Agreed. That said, there were a couple of times that I believe we would have drafted those positions, but the Jets won a meaningless game at the end of the season, screwed our draft position, and then missed out on them. Of course, with the boobs for GMs we've had, they may have drafted another DT or S rather than Edge, TE or OL high. Rex also thought he was going to revolutionize the 3-4 D alignment with pressure from the DL rather than OLB position, and I think he passed on some Edges who would have been at least decent or average.
Yes, we did hurt ourselves by winning meaningless games, but still, decent GMs would've still found talent at these gaping holes. You know how some teams have a reputation for producing studs at certain positions? The Steelers always seem to have great LBs. The Packers always seem to have great QBs. The Broncos always seem to find great RBs. Well the Jets have the reputation of futility in addressing holes like Edge and OL. I'm hopeful now with JD that this is a thing of the past.
What do you mean you didn't make anything up? You called him a "malcontent." Neither you nor anyone else has done anything to support that characterization. I have not seen a single thing that indicates Becton is in any way unhappy with being a member of the New York Jets. There is a huge difference between having what you choose to classify as character problems and someone being a malcontent. He may be "clearly a problem" to you now but that too is simply your opinion as is an unspecified drug test problem.
Everyone should also consider that cutting Greg Van Roten is ADDITION BY SUBTRACTION. We wouldn't be discussing the reliability factor of Mekhi Becton if the Jets weren't forced to go into the season GVR at Guard. GVR got blown up and thrown into Becton’s knee and that's why we're here. So replacing GVR at Guard is paramount.
There's a part of me that thinks people are overreacting to this situation..... 1) I don't think because another lineman got blown up into Becton’s knee makes Becton injury prone? Honestly, I don't know if he's injury prone. That only reveals itself through time. 2) If one of your best players suffers a catastrophic injury because of another very bad player, what do you do in response? I think it's clear you get rid of the bad player. Everyone knows Greg Van Roten is the problem with the line all year long. LDT I feel like is probably a short term solution. I don't know if he's on this team next year? So the key here for me is obvious... use FA or the draft to find a replacement for GVR and cut him free and clear....
The issue is not that he got his knee rolled, but that a 4-8 week injury became season ending. This can just be complications or can be a sign of him not really wanting to be back on the field. It can also be a sign that he is injury-prone.
