Florham Park – With the season-ending arm injury to Jets’ right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker, the most obvious way to fill the void is moving center Joe Tippmann to right guard and plugging Josh Myers in at center.
Tippmann has the potential to be a top-shelf guard.
In the Jets’ first preseason game this summer at Green Bay, Tippmann started the game at left guard, with Myers at center. On a first-quarter touchdown drive, running back Braelon Allen had a 14-yard scamper up the middle. One of the key blocks on this play was Tippmann locking up defensive tackle Colby Wooden, opening up a big hole.
Some might argue that moving Tippmann to guard and taking the shotgun snapping responsibility off his plate might actually not be the worst idea. Over the last year, in games and in practices, sometimes he’s displayed the yips on some of these shotgun snaps. Maybe, if you take this off his plate, let him fire off the ball as a guard, and not worry about this responsibility, as strange as it might seem to some, it could help him.
Tippmann could be quite a mauler at right guard, a road-grader as a run-blocker.
Also, Myers was Justin Fields’ center at Ohio State, so they have great chemistry.
This seems like a no-brainer. We will find out what their decision will be on Sunday, unless an agent leaks it before that.
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