The outlook for the Jets’ offensive line did a 180 in the span of 12 hours on Tuesday.
The unit has struggled throughout training camp, to the point that it has become a major concern, and the Jets have hoped a fully healthy line would ameliorate their problems protecting Aaron Rodgers. It now looks as if they will find out sooner rather than later whether that will make a difference.
Just hours after the Jets moved Mekhi Becton to right tackle for practice and said he will start the preseason finale Saturday night against the Giants, The Post’s Brian Costello confirmed that the team plans to activate left tackle Duane Brown off the physically unable to perform list on Wednesday.
Brown, who tore the labrum in his left shoulder before Week 1 last year, played through it and had rotator cuff surgery in the offseason.
He passed a doctor’s examination Tuesday afternoon in Houston without any concerns.
According to SNY, which first reported on Brown’s activation, he will still need to pass a physical upon returning to Florham Park in order to be activated, and will likely only take part in individual drills on Wednesday. Brown is questionable to play against the Giants
Once Brown, a five-time Pro Bowler (most recently in 2021), returns to the fold, the Jets figure to have a five-man unit of Brown, Laken Tomlinson, Connor McGovern, Alijah Vera-Tucker and Becton from left to right.
Getting that group ready between now and the Sept. 11 opener will be a challenge.
But on paper, it should be a major boon to the Jets, who have struggled to find a cohesive five-man unit throughout camp.
“I guess it’s a given [in] New York, panic, but I think individually, we have a really good set of guys,” head coach Robert Saleh said last Thursday. “All of them can play football. It’s just becoming a unit. I don’t think anyone in here is panicked.”
For the first time in weeks, though, the Jets can be hopeful about the direction the offensive line is taking.
Vera-Tucker and Tomlinson, who have dealt with ankle and leg injuries, respectively, practiced on Tuesday and should play Saturday, Saleh said.
As for Becton, moving the former first-round pick to right tackle from his natural left represents a major step both for him and the team.
If Becton starts in Week 1, it will be his first time on an NFL field in a regular-season game since Week 1 of 2021.
During the interim, Becton suffered back-to-back season-ending knee injuries and dealt with weight issues — a bust label slowly, but firmly becoming affixed to his name.
He’d like to change that. The news Tuesday represents a small, but important, step in the right direction.
“The job’s not finished yet,” Becton said.
Flipping from left to right, he said, is “pretty much like playing a whole new position.” But he has the confidence of coach and quarterback alike, who both talked up Becton on Tuesday.
On Saturday, in the preseason game against the Buccaneers, Becton played 25 snaps at right tackle. Saleh said he noticed not just his play, but his positive demeanor off the field.
“He was finishing blocks,” Saleh said. “Showed athleticism, strength, power, movement. Lot of things he still has to clean up. But he showed, especially — it’s a little thing — but it’s everything pregame. His language, his voice, the bounce in his step, the things people aren’t seeing cause they’re so fixated on what he’s doing on the field.”
Rodgers, who had lunch with Becton at the team cafeteria Monday, is focused on boosting the 24-year-old’s confidence, which has been dented by his stints on injured reserve.
It’s never been a question of talent with Becton, merely of staying healthy and putting it all together.
“I think it’s been a conscious effort by all of us to make him feel like he’s a part of this thing,” Rodgers said. “He’s so talented, he’s humongous and he’s athletic for a man who’s 6-[foot]-8, 350 [pounds].
“And so I’m excited about seeing him out there.”
”Excited” is not a word the Jets have been able to use often in relation to their offensive line for the last few weeks. But it’s one that may begin to be heard a lot.
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