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Heading into the 2023 NFL season, life appears to be pretty good for the New York Jets.
They are coming off of a season where they had one of football’s best defenses and nearly made it to the playoffs.
This offseason, they added Allen Lazard at receiver to help an offense the struggled last season and then made the huge move of trading for Aaron Rodgers.
Unfortunately, it seems there is at least one player that is still not happy in East Rutherford.
This morning, Jets tackle Mekhi Becton tweeted out “I. Am. A. Left. Tackle!” He has since deleted the tweet, but head coach Robert Saleh was still asked about the tweet.
According to ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Saleh’s response was “Go earn the left tackle.”
Is a situation brewing over Mekhi Becton’s position? In a since-deleted tweet, he wrote this morning, “I. Am. A. Left. Tackle!” Saleh’s blunt response today when asked about it: “Go earn the left tackle.” 1/2
— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) May 6, 2023
The Jets selected Becton with the 11th overall in the 2020 draft and can’t feel great about that decision.
The Jets picked Becton over Tristan Wirfs, who has earned a pair of All-Pro nods already in his career.
Meanwhile, Becton has rarely been available for the Jets, playing just one game over the past two seasons. That lack of availability led the Jets to decide not to pick up the 5th-year option on his rookie deal.
If Becton can stay healthy and is still the player he was before a pair of knee injuries, there is no reason he shouldn’t be able to win the starting left tackle job. His top competition for the position is Duane Brown, who wasn’t particularly impressive last season. Otherwise, he’ll be stuck on the right.
Whatever happens with his pursuit of the starting left tackle job, it isn’t looking like there’s a great chance that he will be back with the New York Jets next season.