Getty Several New York Jets celebrating what is believed to be a touchdown, although further tests must be done to confirm that's the case.
The New York Jets haven’t played well so far this season.
That statement shouldn’t come as a surprise considering they’re one of five winless NFL teams at (0-3).
There are a lot of reasons why this team has fallen into this hole. One of the most glaring issues is in the offensive line room.
The situation has gotten so bad that one starter in the trenches has been requested to go to the bench.
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Is One Starter Bench Bound?
Alex Kay of Bleacher Report has apparently seen enough of veteran guard Greg Van Roten.
In his latest column, he picked one player off of every NFL team that should be benched “immediately.”
The rationale for why this would make sense stemmed from GVR’s poor play thus far:
- Gang Green rookie quarterback Zach Wilson has been sacked a league-leading 15 times.
- They labeled Van Roten’s play “egregious” so far, “GVR allowed a team-high six pressures against the Broncos last week. Somehow, that was an improvement over the seven pressures he gave up to the Patriots in Week 2. He’s now solely responsible for 41 percent of the pressures that Gang Green’s offensive line has allowed over the past fortnight.”
They would go on to say, the veteran “must be benched for this line to have any chance of righting the ship.”
It’s hard to argue with any of those points and to make matters worse, he went viral this week for his postgame comments where he seemingly threw his quarterback under the bus blaming him for some of the struggles so far.
Unlikely Here in the Near Future
The #Jets Zone w/ @BoyGreen25:
– Greg Van Roten IS A JOKE
– Why it’s time to HELP A BROTHER OUT on offense
– #Titans defense could be EXACTLY what the doctor ordered
– Latest Robert Saleh soundbites
– Answering mailbag Qs
In a perfect world, it would make a ton of sense for the Jets to either bench or straight-up release GVR for not only his subpar play but also his questionable comments after the game.
Unfortunately, good offensive linemen don’t grow on trees, so the team is stuck between a rock and a hard place.
The suggestion from that same Bleacher Report column was to replace him with backup offensive lineman Isaiah Williams (currently on the practice squad) and saying “that should be a priority” move.
That should be a priority if they want to get their rookie quarterback killed.
Williams has spent the last five years on eight different NFL teams, one AAF team, and an XFL squad. During that time he has produced zero stats at the professional level, per Pro Football Reference. A total unknown being thrust into the lineup seems like a bad idea.
So putting that aside for a moment, the only other viable players on the roster are Dan Feeney and potentially kicking Connor McGovern to guard.
Although Feeney has proven to be not very good both in the preseason and his previous NFL stops. Despite the fact, McGovern has prior experience at right guard, the team has been hesitant to move him over because they believe in him at center.
The only other emergency options would feature the team promoting someone from the practice squad:
In other words the pickings are very slim. So outside of the Jets wanting to send a message to the rest of the team, GVR is likely here to stay.
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Jets Called on to Bench Offensive Starter ‘Immediately’