The NY Jets’ 5 starting O-linemen all possess the same essential trait

[Mainejet]

All five of the New York Jets' projected starting offensive linemen in 2022 possess a trait that is essential to success in NY's scheme.

By
Michael Nania
-
06/16/2022

There is a common theme among the offensive linemen acquired by New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas​

The offensive line overhaul enacted by New York Jets general manager Joe Douglas is seemingly complete. In three offseasons, Douglas has transformed the league-worst unit that he inherited into a group with legitimate top-10 upside entering the 2022 season.

Pending health, the Jets project to open 2022 with a starting offensive line of George Fant, Laken Tomlinson, Connor McGovern, Alijah Vera-Tucker, and Mekhi Becton. Each player was acquired by Douglas through either a first-round draft pick or a lucrative free-agent contract.

This unit’s talent level is excellent. All five players have proven they are capable of being above-average starters at the very least, while Vera-Tucker and Becton have shown the potential to become elite players. These things, we know.

But here’s what I find even more intriguing about this five-man crew than its raw cumulative talent: How perfectly each player fits into the Jets’ offensive scheme.

This New York Jets offensive line is tailor-made for the wide-zone running scheme​

It’s not as if the Jets just went out and stitched together a hodgepodge of talented offensive linemen with many different types of skill sets, having no regard for compatibility. Douglas has been acquiring players who complement one another since the very beginning.

Athleticism has always been at the forefront of Douglas’ wishlist for offensive linemen. This started in 2020 with Fant, McGovern, and Becton.

When the Jets hired Mike LaFleur to be their offensive coordinator in 2021, it was clear that everything was coming together beautifully for the front five. LaFleur was poised to bring over the wide-zone running scheme from San Francisco – a perfect scheme for athletic linemen. Later in the year, Douglas continued boosting the unit’s athleticism by drafting Vera-Tucker.

Finally, in March of 2022, Douglas completed his construction of an idealistic wide-zone offensive line with the signing of Tomlinson, who developed into a Pro Bowler while playing in San Francisco’s wide-zone.

Despite being the group’s only Pro Bowler, Tomlinson is, ironically enough, the only player in the unit who does not boast elite athleticism. Here are the Relative Athletic Scores (RAS) of each player, scored on a 0-to-10 scale:

• Connor McGovern: 9.87
• Mekhi Becton: 9.85
• Alijah Vera-Tucker: 9.80
• George Fant: 9.48
• Laken Tomlinson: 4.50

RAS is based on the historical rankings of a player’s pre-draft testing drills, relative to their size and position.

Tomlinson has already proven he can overcome his athletic deficiencies to provide high-level production in a zone-blocking scheme, so his lack of athleticism is no concern.

But he’s an outlier. Most players need superb movement skills to thrive in this offense – and everyone else on this unit has just that. Putting these four all-world athletes on the same line will give the Jets’ wide-zone running game an incredible ceiling.

This unit’s talent level is excellent. All five players have proven they are capable of being above-average starters at the very least, while Vera-Tucker and Becton have shown the potential to become elite players. These things, we know.

But here’s what I find even more intriguing about this five-man crew than its raw cumulative talent: How perfectly each player fits into the Jets’ offensive scheme.

This New York Jets offensive line is tailor-made for the wide-zone running scheme​

It’s not as if the Jets just went out and stitched together a hodgepodge of talented offensive linemen with many different types of skill sets, having no regard for compatibility. Douglas has been acquiring players who complement one another since the very beginning.

Altogether, the five players had an average zone-blocking grade of 75.4, which is outstanding. If accumulated by a team’s entire offensive line over the course of the 2021 season, a zone-blocking grade of 75.4 would have ranked third-best out of all 32 NFL offensive lines.

Here were the best zone-blocking teams in 2021 (based on the cumulative PFF zone-blocking grades of all offensive linemen):

1. San Francisco 49ers (80.0)
2. Los Angeles Rams (78.0)
3. Indianapolis Colts (74.6)
4. Cleveland Browns (74.2)
5. Tennessee Titans (74.0)

The only two offensive lines with a better zone-blocking grade than 75.4 were those of the two NFC Championship Game representatives, including LaFleur and Tomlinson’s former team in the top spot. Altogether, the top five zone-blocking offensive lines had a combined win percentage of 0.600. Each of them won at least eight games. Four of the five had a winning record.

New York’s tailor-made wide-zone offensive line could be its secret recipe for a surprisingly successful 2022 season

 

[Mainejet]

This article speaks to Joe Douglas's tendencies and how he likes athleticism in his OL. IMO, Joe Douglas has taken the athleticism factor a little further than the Ravens have in the past. Only time will tell if his tendencies are correct.

What I do know is MEKHI BECTON is the deciding factor as to whether the Jets offense will be any good this season. In Bectons rookie season, he was so good that if not for a few missed games due to injury, he would have been an All-Pro. Bectons second year was a disaster. Greg Van Roten, a guy the Jets had hoped would get cut before the season began, was forced to start as he was the only man left standing. GVR was not a very good player and Jets fans knew it. True to form on opening day in Carolina, GVR got blown up so bad he was tossed into the back of Bectons legs. Becton dislocated his knee cap. Due to complications with the injury, Becton was out all season.

 

[Nurps]

This belongs in the "Other NFL Teams" section.

 

[Mainejet]

But this sucks. I posted it on the Ravens talk specifically addressing the debate we had regarding OL and their RAS scores. We had a debate pertaining to Daniel Falaale and many claimed that RAS scores didn't matter when it comes to OL. Now, this thread is tucked away in some obscure location and nobody will ever see it. I did it to provide good topic banter. Putting it here it won't provide any good debate....

 

[rossihunter2]

But this sucks. I posted it on the Ravens talk specifically addressing the debate we had regarding OL and their RAS scores. We had a debate pertaining to Daniel Falaale and many claimed that RAS scores didn't matter when it comes to OL. Now, this thread is tucked away in some obscure location and nobody will ever see it. I did it to provide good topic banter. Putting it here it won't provide any good debate....

people will still see it

but i also think that of all the positions, RAS is least important to OL - the athleticism they have is hardly touched by the combine/pro-day drills and because there's very few power drills

i dont see why you posting the scores of those Jets OL somehow refutes the idea that RAS isnt that important at that position

i think it's also important to take into account that while Joe Douglas is an OL dude, and spent a long time with the ravens, barring a couple of years, the ravens have for the mostpart been a power/gap team and not a zone team which means that he's hunting for different kinds of OL than he would have been with the ravens

teams all value athleticism across the OL, i just don't think RAS is a good measure of that for OL

 

[RavensMania]

But this sucks. I posted it on the Ravens talk specifically addressing the debate we had regarding OL and their RAS scores. We had a debate pertaining to Daniel Falaale and many claimed that RAS scores didn't matter when it comes to OL. Now, this thread is tucked away in some obscure location and nobody will ever see it. I did it to provide good topic banter. Putting it here it won't provide any good debate....

we all know when there are new posts specifically because the section gets highlighted. This is the section for "other teams" and keeps Ravens Talk from being cluttered. We didn't say RAS doesn't matter, we did say it isn't the end all be all. If it was the end all be all we wouldn't have drafted Orlando Brown, Jr.

btw, the Ravens don't run an outside zone scheme.

 

[Mainejet]

people will still see it

but i also think that of all the positions, RAS is least important to OL - the athleticism they have is hardly touched by the combine/pro-day drills and because there's very few power drills

i dont see why you posting the scores of those Jets OL somehow refutes the idea that RAS isnt that important at that position

i think it's also important to take into account that while Joe Douglas is an OL dude, and spent a long time with the ravens, barring a couple of years, the ravens have for the mostpart been a power/gap team and not a zone team which means that he's hunting for different kinds of OL than he would have been with the ravens

teams all value athleticism across the OL, i just don't think RAS is a good measure of that for OL

Joe Douglas definitely values prospects with high RAS scores. In fact, so far in his 3 drafts he's never drafted anyone, OL or no, with a RAS score south of 9.5. He's essentially saying by his actions that he will not touch a prospect before the 5th round with a RAS score less than 9. Now, there's definitely some difference in the drafting from his days from the Ravens because he's serving Robert Saleh and Mike Lafleur. Lafleur desires highly athletic OL for correct execution of the wide Zone blocking scheme. In reference to the Ravens taking Daniel Falaale, my hope is it works out for you guys but he would never be a fit in NY. Just saying it's different for JD.....

 

[RavensMania]

Joe Douglas definitely values prospects with high RAS scores. In fact, so far in his 3 drafts he's never drafted anyone, OL or no, with a RAS score south of 9.5. He's essentially saying by his actions that he will not touch a prospect before the 5th round with a RAS score less than 9. Now, there's definitely some difference in the drafting from his days from the Ravens because he's serving Robert Saleh and Mike Lafleur. Lafleur desires highly athletic OL for correct execution of the wide Zone blocking scheme. In reference to the Ravens taking Daniel Falaale, my hope is it works out for you guys but he would never be a fit in NY. Just saying it's different for JD.....

I definitely agree Faalele wouldn't be a fit in your Wide Zone ZBS, but he's absolutely a fit in the Ravens scheme. Now whether he works out we won't know for a bit, but he was a steal in the 4th round.