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Mekhi Becton missed practice on Friday September 8.
Henry McKenna of Fox Sports said the New York Jets offensive tackle was “downgraded” on the injury report because of an “illness” on top of his “knee injury.”
Prior to missing practice on Friday, Becton was listed as a limited participant for Thursday’s practice.
UPDATE
Becton returned to practice on Saturday as a “full participant” according to Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic.
Becton Situation Is ‘Something to Watch’ Ahead of Jets-Bills
Rich Cimini of ESPN said Becton was “sent home” due to this illness and it is “something to watch” ahead of the season opener on Monday September 11.
Becton hasn’t completed a regular season game start to finish since his rookie season back in 2020.
Connor Hughes of SNY said Becton is “going to play” against the Bills on Monday Night Football but it is just another issue that has been added to the long list of issues the former Louisville product has been dealing with at the NFL level.
“It is just kind of that issue that the Jets have had with Mekhi Becton, and it dates back to his rookie season. He is given the starting job; they’re relying on him [and] counting on him. He really holds a lot of the cards for this offensive line because we saw what the state of the offense looked like when Mekhi Becton wasn’t out there. You don’t necessarily know how often Mekhi Becton is actually going to be on the field because there always seems to be these little things that take him out,” Hughes added.
Hughes said the biggest thing here is “trust.”
“The Jets are trusting him to not only be out there but to stay out there to protect Aaron Rodgers,” Hughes explained on “Inside Out” on SNY. “This isn’t the worst-case scenario, it is just an illness the Jets know he is going to play, but again it is just something else with a guy that always seems to have something going on.”
Scary Backup Plan for the Jets Ahead of Bills Game
Throughout training camp Becton wasn’t involved in any competition for a starting gig. He was continuing to work back into football shape, but suddenly seemingly out of nowhere he stole the starting right tackle job in the middle of August, and he hasn’t looked back.
Becton won the job, but the only reason it was still up for grabs that late in the process is because no one seized it.
Max Mitchell and Billy Turner had been rotating in competing for that job for weeks, but neither impressed enough to win the job. That left the door open for Becton to seize it and he did exactly that.
However, if this illness ends up being a bigger deal than expected that would force the Jets to throw Turner or Mitchell out there in place of Becton in the starting lineup.
Mitchell was better than expected last year, but he wasn’t perfect by any means. Turner on the other hand has been very up-and-down during his career. Becton is clearly the best option if everyone is healthy, but who knows how long that’ll continue to be the case.
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