What’s left on Aaron Rodgers and the Jets’ offseason checklist?

Henry McKenna

AFC East Reporter

The New York Jets haven’t quite finished their offseason checklist.

They may have acquired most of the players quarterback Aaron Rodgers suggested he wanted, which has included veteran receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb. (They missed out on Odell Beckham Jr., who signed with the Ravens.) There are, however, additional bits and pieces that New York might continue to acquire in it effort to win a Super Bowl.

The Jets have some salary cap space (roughly $7 million) in 2023. Their salary cap situation in 2024 is a bit of a mess, given that they put $107.55 million of Rodgers’ deal into next year’s cap. They will restructure his contract (again) next year to resolve that problem waiting to happen, but in the meantime, New York will have to be thrifty. Those financial constraints placed a lot of emphasis on the draft.

And yet New York didn’t change the composition of its starting roster on Day 1 of the draft. First-round edge Will McDonald will serve as a rotational player. On Day 2, the Jets used a second-round pick to address their inconsistencies at center. They picked Indiana‘s Joe Tippmann — a 6-foot-6, 315-pound giant — at 43rd overall. He is likely to beat out veteran incumbent starter Connor McGovern before Week 1.

And then, finally, the Jets spent their fourth-round pick on Pittsburgh tackle Carter Warren. That was their biggest position of need.

“Really good length, really good lateral agility that has huge upside and is a good fit in our scheme,” general manager Joe Douglas said after the team selected Warren in April. “The size, the length, the pass pro ability, the balance, so we feel good about hopefully getting a steal here in Day 3 on a guy with a lot of upside.”

In theory, tackles Mekhi Becton and Duane Brown should handle the duties on the edge. But given their injury history, the Jets can’t really trust either player to finish the season. Becton, in particular, is tough to rely upon after playing 15 games in his first three NFL seasons and one in the past two years.

Becton tweeted this month: “I. AM. A. LEFT. TACKLE!!!” He later deleted the tweet.

That seemed like a complicated statement given what coach Robert Saleh said about his offensive line. He admitted the guard spots were settled with Alijah Vera-Tucker and Laken Tomlinson. Everywhere else? Open season.

As for Becton’s tweet, Saleh had a more specific response.

“Go earn the left tackle,” Saleh said Saturday. “Competition.”

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In a perfect world, the Jets will have Becton on the left and Brown on the right. Warren and second-year tackle Max Mitchell will compete for the swing tackle role. But it’s not a gig where the Jets can trust a pair of developmental players. (And in Mitchell’s time on the field last year, he proved he was not ready to play in the NFL — yet.)

The Jets knew they had an issue at tackle. They seemed interested in going so far as to draft a tackle in the first round, but the Pittsburgh Steelers traded with the New England Patriots to jump into the 14th overall pick, where Georgia tackle Broderick Jones went off the board. The Steelers and Patriots believe the Jets wanted Jones, according to ESPN.

So perhaps the tackle spot still needs addressing. And we’re not just talking about the offensive tackle spot. I’m thinking about defensive tackle, too.

Quinnen Williams will play the majority of the snaps. He’s a beast. But the Jets don’t have a great complement to Williams. Quinton Jefferson and Solomon Thomas figure to serve as the top rotational players. They’re not the caliber of DT we typically see under Saleh, who rose in the ranks as a defensive line coach. Maybe the Jets think Saleh can make the most of the underwhelming talent. But New York is overstocked on the edge and clearly understocked on the inside. It’s hard to see how the team fixes that situation without a big spend. But maybe Douglas can get creative.

The truth is that the Jets’ problems are good ones: OT3 and DT2. Given the scheme and the roster composition, those issues shouldn’t be taken lightly. But if they come at the cost of fixing their biggest issue in 2022 — quarterback, of course — the Jets will be happy to manage with what they have. Because what they have appears, at least on paper, to be enough to contend for an AFC championship.

Prior to joining FOX Sports as the AFC East reporter, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @McKennAnalysis.

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