The Jets are uniquely equipped to handle the Alijah Vera-Tucker injury
In a summer that has been unusually quiet for Gang Green’s standards, Aaron Glenn got his first taste of the snake-bitten franchise he is hoping to revive.
Losing team captain and star offensive guard Alijah Vera-Tucker a week before the season opener is a huge blow for a team that was projected to have its best offensive line in a decade. In seasons past, Vera-Tucker’s inability to stay healthy has sunk New York’s offensive line towards the bottom of the league. However, there is reason to believe that 2025 could be different.
Culture Change
When breaking Vera-Tucker’s season-ending injury to the media, Glenn was oddly calm compared to the usual glumness of former head coach Robert Saleh.
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No coach wants to see one of their four captains go down, but the business-as-usual tone shows that the Jets are bought in on this next man up mentality. Glenn knows this better than anyone, having to adjust to 13 defensive IR stints with the Lions last season. Even when it was Aidan Hutchinson, the injuries never really seemed to devastate the Lions until they just ran out of bodies. For New York, that’s not a problem yet.
Offseason Moves
Although the headline move up front certainly was the selection of Missouri’s Armand Membou, the Jets quietly made other shrewd moves in the lead up to the draft. Bringing in center Josh Myers looms larger than ever with Vera-Tucker out for months.
Xavier Newman-Johnson, a Jet since 2023, has carved out a role for himself as a quality pinch starter in case of an injury crisis. Although he’s never started a regular season game, he’s stacked two strong preseasons, recording PFF grades of 78.8 and 61.6 the last two years. His 11 offensive snaps in 2024 don’t inspire a ton of confidence, but his ability to stick around for a regime change suggests there’s confidence in him within the building.
Meanwhile, Myers’ much more palatable resume suggests he’s on the inside track to start. A four year starter in Green Bay, Myers made his living as a serviceable yet expendable player for Matt Lafleur. After his rookie contract ended with the Packers, signing Myers on a $4 million deal was seen as an excellent depth piece in case of injury. However, training camp made the deal significantly more controversial.
Training Camp Battle
Despite having well documented snapping issues the previous off-season, Joe Tippmann appeared to be the entrenched starting center after putting together a top ten season. That wasn’t the case, as Glenn caused a storm by announcing a competition at center between the incumbent and Myers, despite the latter grading as the 38th best center in 2024.
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Although Tippmann appeared to have firmly won the training camp “battle”, Myers got more than his fair share of the reps, including starting with the ones against the Packers in preseason. Tippmann meanwhile shifted over to guard, covering for the unavailable John Simpson; with Vera-Tucker now out, this figures to be the contingency plan.
Analyzing a Reshaped Offensive Line
At center, Myers is undoubtedly a steep downgrade from Tippmann. Although he may look better as a snapper, his run blocking is amongst the worst in the league while being an average pass protector. The silver lining for the Jets is that with a strong supporting cast of guards around Myers, they may be able to mitigate his weakness like they did against Green Bay.
On the other hand, Tippmann’s position switch has the chance to breathe new life into him. As much as Glenn and the coaching staff put him through the ringer, the concerns about Tippmann never were based around his physical ability.
At center, Tippmann’s height could be a detriment at times when getting all the way up after snapping. However, his size and athleticism in space could make him one of the best guards in football. In his rookie season, Tippmann did get a chance at right guard for four games and shined in both facets, ranking 16th in pressure rate and 11th in run blocking grade amongst 78 qualifying guards (h/t Jets X Factor).
Despite the center competition being somewhat of a mirage, it shows that this coaching staff sees Tippmann as a better guard than center. As far as replacing Alijah Vera-Tucker goes, it’s impossible for the Jets to get closer to him than Joe Tippmann.
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