The ineptitude plaguing the Jets’ on-field results is now trickling down into needlessly putting the health of future stars in harm’s way.
Rookie offensive lineman Mekhi Becton — one of the few bright spots within an already lost season — has been dealing with a shoulder injury picked up during their Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.
Rather than keep the best interests of their perceived franchise-centerpiece along the offensive line in mind, both general manager Joe Douglas and head coach Adam Gase allowed Becton to suit up just four days later on Thursday night against the Denver Broncos, where he began the game on the sidelines.
Fair enough — but just minutes into the game, he was in for the injured Chuma Edoga where he begged and pleaded his way onto the field.
No one stepped up to force him back to the bench, no one acted like the adult or person in charge. Instead, they let a 21-year-old, promising player go out on a sieve-like offensive line and run the risk of worsening his injury.
Shame on Gase for letting that happen — and he gets plenty of deserved flack as it is — but shame on the GM Douglas for being in on the reported joint decision to let Becton dress in the first place.
It doesn’t come as much of a shock when Becton didn’t practice on Wednesday that his status for Week 5 against the Arizona Cardinals is still very much in the air.
“It’s all strength predicated,” Gase said. “When he gets to the point where he feels like he’s got the strength that he’s looking for, the way he plays, that’s when I think he’ll feel good, we’ll feel good. I just know that he doesn’t have that at the moment. He’s working to get it back, and we’ll just kind of see. We’re just taking it day to day and just kind of see where he’s at.”
By that diagnosis alone, the Jets should follow the caution they’re taking with quarterback Sam Darnold and shelving Becton for Week 5, too.
Then again, that’s a logical train of though, which the Jets haven’t really exhibited over the past few years (or decades).
Is there an opt-out clause on the 2020 season for an entire NFL team available?
