Worth rolling the dice

It’s a very risky move, but one they had to make.

Talking about the Jets signing of veteran left tackle Tyron Smith.

Smith is an elite left tackle with an injury history, missing 37 out of possible 67 games the last four years, and to think that a player who has had a hard time staying healthy over the years, is all of a sudden going to break that trend when turning 34 in December, might be a little Pollyanna.

Look, the NFL has a 100 percent injury rate. Everybody is always dealing with something. But we can’t forget, once you suffer certain injuries, that body part is never exactly the same. This isn’t to mean you can’t keep play playing on it, but that body part’s issue is more apt to rear it’s ugly head again, because of the past issues.

And example with Smith is with his neck. He suffered a neck injury in 2020, ending his season and requiring surgery, and then, during the 2023 season, he missed four games with a neck injury again.

In training camp of 2022, he suffered a torn hamstring. Not a pulled hamstring, but a torn hamstring. He was put on injured reserve. He did return in late December to play some games, but a doctor once told me, that once you tear a hamstring, that hamstring will never be exactly the same again. Now that doesn’t mean you can’t play sports after a severe hamstring injury, after taking some time off, but the doctor’s point is that it’s never exactly the same.

But with all this being said, this is a move the Jets had to make.

You see, even if they pick an offensive tackle with the 10th pick overall, and it would be a very highly-rated offensive tackle prospect, with Aaron Rodgers coming off a serious achilles injury, would you trust a rookie to protect his blindside, especially early in the season while the kid is figuring out the whys and wherefores of playing in the NFL?

The one prospect who you would likely trust the most to do that out of the gate is Notre Dame’s Joe Alt. He’s the most pro-ready to plug in at left tackle and not have a lot to worry about much. However, he’s not likely going to be there at 10.

Penn State’s Olu Fashanu, has a big upside, but needs a lot of work.

“He’s going to keep getting better, but he’s got areas to coach up,” and unnamed personnel executive told NFL.com.

So is that the road to go down to protect Rodgers blindside this year?

Oregon State’s Taliese Fuaga is a player often placed with the Jets in mock drafts, but let’s not forget he was a right tackle for the Beavers, and while many think he has feet and skill set to move to the left side, do you want Rodgers blindside being protected by a rookie switching sides?

There are other first-round left tackle prospects, but not sure any of the others are worth picking at 10.

So this is why the Smith signing makes sense, even with the injury risk.

Going with a rookie (aside from Alt) wouldn’t make a ton of sense, especially early in the season, so they needed a big-time, ready-to-roll, blindside protector, and that is Smith.

They just need to keep their fingers crossed he stays healthy, and have a good backup left tackle on the roster, since Smith has not played a full season since 2015. Five of those seasons he played 13 games, so based on history, you would perhaps need Carter Warren, or whoever is the backup left tackle, to fill in here and there.

But considering the contract (1-year, $6.5 million) isn’t crazy, the signing makes sense, even with the injury risk.

March 18, 2024

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