The New York Jets offensive line is better, but PFF says not by much
The New York Jets spent the majority of their offseason rebuilding the offensive line in both free agency and the NFL Draft. The consensus is that the line is better and should be improved.
How much better? Well, only marginally so according to Pro Football Focus.
The analytics website ranked all 32 offensive lines and it was surprising to see that the Jets, with potentially five new starters from the group that started Week 1 a season ago, are only slightly improved from last year. New York had one of the worst if not the worst offensive lines in the NFL a season ago.
General manager Joe Douglas invested in talent such as right tackle George Fant and guard Greg Van Roten in free agency. Not to mention, first round pick Mekhi Becton.
PFF cautions, however, that the rookie tackle has some developing to do.
“First-round pick Mekhi Becton, a mauling run blocker who has some work to do in pass protection, is the likely starter at left tackle,” PFF writes in their analysis. “Becton’s college film is rare, as the 6-foot-7, 360-pounder tossed college players around like high schoolers, but his mediocre 64.7 pass-blocking grade on true pass sets is a concern.”
As a whole, the Jets aren’t much better according to PFF, who have the revamped offensive line at No. 27. Last year, PFF graded the unit as No. 28, a higher ranking than outlets such as FootballOutsiders.com had pegged the team.
PFF was high on the signing of center Connor McGovern, noting that his “72.0 overall grade tied for ninth among centers during the 2019 regular season. However, McGovern posted a 48.9 grade in 2017 and a 58.8 mark in 2018, so New York will be hoping they got the 2019 version in free agency.”
