FA OT Duane Brown Signs with Jets.

Brown would be smart to wait to see what the medicals show on Becton, what Becton's timetable is for return/ I am sure he wants to play. The LT/RT issue on his preference is a good thought as well. Hopefully it gets done today. Even if we sign Brown we might need another back-up tackle.

 

This whole Becton injury has sure put a damper on any optimism or excitement that I had. The reports of Becton dominating at camp, creating huge lanes for Hall and even Becton hater Cimini writing a a glowing article about the work Becton was putting in. I was thinking before yesterday that with a Brown signing the entire roster would have no holes. Every starter would be average to above average except Zach with actual depth everywhere. Amazing how as a Jet fan all optimism and good hopes can be so quickly turned into the blak hole of never ending bad events.

 

We will be fine. Let's see how this plays out before panicking. Breece is special and Zach is going to have a good year. The defense should be a whole lot better. Still lots of reasons for optimism.

 

Every opinion I see here never says " elite OL " for sure with MBecton

Only see "elite potential"

That's sounds more hope than realistic expectation tbh

Wouldn't it be the height of irony if someone steps in to replace the walking injury man Becton and the OL goes above average... smh

Why can't we accept the fact that Becton might bust out? So what ? The GM is not perfect..Joe Douglas will be judged more harshly if Z Wilson hits a wall

 

This has probably been said in this thread or one of the other ones on Becton, but I haven't gone through everything yet. So I'll just say what's on my mind...

Between appearances on WFAN this morning and now in Saleh's presser, I think I've seen multiple instances of him or JD saying that "interest is mutual" between Brown and the Jets. I'm not usually one to hold their feet to the fire, but for their sake they'd better be right and get him signed. If this somehow doesn't work out, it's going to be indefensible to openly tell the fanbase about mutual interest and not get a deal done.

 

Have you read about latest practice? 8 sacks on 22 drop backs plus bunch of pressures. That is atrocious. When not sacked Zack went 8-12. What's remarkable here is that Zach actually made drastic improvements compared to last year in practice. But he needs protection, and we cannot have a weak link at Tackle. We need to at least put someone competent in there, then we can be average. If we go with McDermot, Zach and the Jets are screwed.

Remember last year when season started, OLine played like total shit until we got LDT. LDT is not great, but he plugged the hole, and the unit became solid (until Fant got injured). You need at least a solid guy in each of 5 positions. If you have a shitty Tackle on one side, others will not be able to bail you out. Hopefully Duane will be here soon to plug the hole like LDT did last year, otherwise Zach will be a tackling dummy and could be ruined.

 

Based on T.C. so far, even with Becton, this OL was NOT elite. Potentially, down the road? Maybe,. But Zach is under pressure on every snap. And keep in mind that every OL's success or failure is linked on its individual players - if one falters, it affects the entire line. Becton wasn't at 100% before he was hurt, neither was Fant. And at this point they don't have any solid backups. It's extremely frustrating that we're in this situation AGAIN!

 

Here is my two cents, I'm still optimistic about the Jets this season but much more worried about our weak link. My heart says I want Brown badly, my gut says he wants to go to a different team with better playoff opportunity. Otherwise he would be here already.
Apparently JD has been pushing behind the scenes for quite a while to get him, contrary to the popular opinion that they went to camp completely ignoring the potential risk with Becton or Fant for that matter. While I think the nature of this new injury was unexpected, work has been in progress to bolster the position in free agency.
Is not like these experienced OL come often, thus many can now fall back to the early premise that going OL with the first or second pick had better merit. But rest assure, had JD done that, there will be an equal amount of criticism for ignoring the WR position once again. Is always easier to rationalise the merit after the fact, when something bad happens.
But all that is water under the bridge now. For the near term and good of this team we need to quickly move beyond the shoulda, coulda, woulda and plug the leak best way possible. For the longer term is clear as day that drafting OL high year after year,immediate need or not is the way to go. Screw the immediate need approach to the draft.. We cant forecast immediate need. at all. Luxury pick one moment, dire need the next. All I know is nothing good ever happens to an offense without a top tier OL.
JD had the right approach, but unfortunately his LT selection did not get the expected results. Keep the pressure on till we get our guy. And BTW, is not like Fant and the rest have lighten it up against our D either. One could easily argue that might still be our weakest link, especially now without Becton.

 

Seems like the longer this goes with no announcement the less likely this is going to happen. If they were already pretty far apart before Becton went down the gap has probably widened, not narrowed. And all the pressure is on Douglas while Brown enjoys the catbird seat.

 

It occurs to me that Douglas is in a particulaly tough position because both Fant and Brown are expecting to play LT this year, and it is certainly at least questionable whether either can play RT. Fant needs to follow up last year's solid performance with another so he can cash in during 2023 free agency. Brown is a former All-Pro who has never played RT and who may be waiting for an offer to play LT for a contender in the twilight of his career. The two are reportedly friendly, and Brown may not want to screw up Fant's free agency year by taking over the LT position on the Jets, thus forcing Fant to RT, a position he doesn't like or do well in. This could cost Fant millions of dollars and lost opportunities.

One kind of solution I've heard is to give Fant a multi-year contract and then sign Brown. Considering Brown's achievement and experience history, Brown then gets first dibs on LT, and Fant goes on to have another mediocre year at RT, knowing that he will get the LT job when Brown leaves in 2023.

Who knows if any of this speculation is accurate, but it might explain the delay in signing Brown.

 

If I’m Douglass, I would reach out to Kansas City and see if Orlando Brown is available. If the price I wouldn’t mind trading for him.

 

This makes a lot of sense. JD even said something to the regards of them having framework of the deal already in place and Duane had to take physical. Usually when you are at that stage, things move fairly quickly. I bet if Becton didn't get injured for another day or so, Duane would have already been signed for relatively cheap. But the second Becton limped off, tables have been turned. Duane knows JD has to make a move relatively quick to integrate new person, and he wants to get paid starter's money. Reasonable take as he is no longer signing to be a back-up, but a full time starter. Let's see who blinks first. If we do lose Duane though, I will be pissed.

 

I'm wondering if they're going to see how Edoga and Mitchell fare in the next week or two before signing Duane Brown.

 

I have to think that Becton's knee issues last week prior to the scrimmage, using the brace, the pain and limping may have prompted them to bring in Brown on Saturday. At that point they might have understood that the kneecap was possibly coming out of place and that the failure to choose the more serious surgery last year protecting against subsequent injury might have been a serious mistake.