New York Jets Rookie Mekhi Becton's Simple Goal: 'Have a Guy on the Ground Every Play'
It has been nothing short of a positive start to his NFL career for Mekhi Becton, the New York Jets first round pick. In his two starts, Becton has been a dominant presence and every bit the hype as when he burst on to the national stage in late February.
Becton, whose mantra is “to have a guy on the ground every play,” credits an offseason spent getting ready for this moment. His workouts with famed trainer Duke Manyweather are notorious but less known is his immersion into the playbook.
During training camp, Jets head coach Adam Gase praised Becton for his preparedness and readiness to step into a starting role on their rebuilt offensive line.
“I was into the playbook a lot. After every meeting I was in my playbook, before meetings I was in my playbook,” Becton said
“I knew I had to come in here perform, I needed to come in here and be ready. Coach [Frank] Pollack told me that from jump I needed to hit the ground running. I took that personally and got into my playbook.”
It is rare enough to see an offensive lineman become a Week 1 starter in the NFL. Rarer still to see a rookie get the start at left tackle.
Even more so to see this rookie be dominant at left tackle. Such, is the tale of the tape for Becton.
He made his splash at the NFL Combine, where at 6-foot-7 and 364 pounds, he ran the 40 in 5.11. This testing was backed up by a college tape at Louisville where he was All-ACC and named the conference’s top blocker.
For people like Gase, who doesn’t hand out compliments readily, the work Becton did coming into this season was noticeable.
“I really think a lot of it has to do with his preparation coming into the season, not only physically, but – I know I’ve said this before, but he must have studied a lot because since he’s been here, since we started that first time we went out there in a phase two walkthrough, he’s been all over it,” Gase said.
“He was executing things that I was really surprised about, because sometimes it takes, ‘Okay, oh that’s what I should do, I should slide with this guy,’ or, ‘I need to work with this dude.’ I mean he got it pretty quick. He really did a good job of taking those meetings from the spring and then applying them when he got on the field. And then now it’s like – you can see there’s a few things that come up every once in a while where it’s the first time he’s ever seen that, but man he doesn’t make the same mistake more than once. He makes something, he can lock it in and say, ‘Alright hey, I’ve seen this before, I know what to do now,’ and he’s been impressive the first two games.”
This past week, after a strong showing in his second NFL start, Becton has started to generate some buzz. Through two games, he is top-rated offensive rookie according to Pro Football Focus.
He also is getting some nods from his peers around the league, with the Jets left tackle saying that opposing edge rushers who are now routinely getting dominated and thrown to the ground are feeling it.
They pick themselves up off the turf, turn to him and say “Dang bro.”
His response? A laugh.
