If general manager Joe Douglas was getting uncomfortable with questions about the Haason Reddick situation last week, he eased up with this one: Is this the best you’ve felt about the offensive line heading into a season?
“Absolutely,” he said, then called last year’s offensive line disaster a “silver lining” since so many young players — including tackles Carter Warren and Max Mitchell, plus guard/center Xavier Newman — were thrown into the fire ahead of schedule. They all return, plus first-round pick Olu Fashanu as the team’s swing tackle and veteran Wes Schweitzer as the top interior backup.
“Our entire depth outside of Olu started games for us,” Douglas said. “You can see the group coming together.”
Fashanu lived up to his first-round billing in camp — and the Jets won’t even need him to start, at least not at first. The starting five, on paper, looks like the best the Jets have had in years, led by Smith, who struggled to stay healthy with the Cowboys but remains one of the NFL’s best pass protectors at left tackle when he’s on the field. He still looks the part. Morgan Moses looks like a massive upgrade at right tackle, Alijah Vera-Tucker is healthy (and will stay at one position this year) and Tippmann (after a rough start to camp) should be better in his second year. Left guard John Simpson, Saleh said, “has been phenomenal,” citing the job he’s done battling with Quinnen Williams and Javon Kinlaw during camp, and how he looked against the Commanders’ defensive line in a joint practice.
