Jets Offensive Line Among The Worst In the NFL According to Pro Football Focus
On Tuesday, Jets general manager Joe Douglas talked about building up the offensive line, an area that painfully needs an infusion of talent and depth for the New York jets.
For three offseasons, the offensive line has seemingly been an afterthought for the Jets and the deteriorating level of performance each season hit rock bottom this year. The unit can’t be ignored any longer, especially if the Jets are serious about protecting a young quarterback in Sam Darnold who undoubtedly is the future of the franchise.
As such, the Jets are likely to invest heavily in free along the offensive line (they enter the offseason just under $70 million in salary cap space). It also wouldn’t be a shock if the Jets utilize an early draft pick to shore up their depth along the offensive line.
“Obviously, like the rest of our team, it didn’t start out ideal, our offensive line. I think I saw a stat that we had nine different o-line combinations so that’s more than half the season we had a different starting line up with the offensive line, so a real testament to those guys sticking together,” Douglas told reporters at the team’s facility on Tuesday.
“I really feel that those guys, like a lot of our team, they were able to stick together, they grew within the offense, there’s a reason they say, ‘growing pains’ not, ‘growing joys’ and this team grew.”
This week, Pro Football Focus ran an assessment on each offensive line in the NFL. The data on the Jets from the analytics site isn’t pretty.
The Jets have the No. 28 offensive line in the league according to Pro Football Focus’ season-long grades.
“The Jets averaged just 0.7 rushing yards before contact per attempt, the lowest mark of any team in the NFL,” Pro Football Focus analyst Ben Linsey wrote this week.
“Add in that they allowed pressure in 2.5 seconds or less on 27.5% of their dropbacks (second-highest mark in the NFL), and it’s not hard to see why they find themselves at 28th on this list.”
The Jets finished the season dead-last in total offense and second from the bottom in rushing offense, averaging just 78.6 yards per game on the ground.
They also were second-worst in the NFL in Adjusted Sack Rate, a metric used by Football Outsiders.
