How good has George Fant been at LT?

[AFJF]

Have been very impressed with Fant at LT and decided to see where PFF had him ranked since taking over at LT in week 2.  Numbers were even better than I expected.

 

[LockeJET]

Better than Henry is at RB

[TokyoJetsFan]

1 minute ago, AFJF said:

Have been very impressed with Fant at LT and decided to see where PFF had him ranked since taking over at LT in week 2.  Numbers were even better than I expected.

 

Not trying to be a jerk...legit question...do you happen to know his run blocking and overall grades? 

[AFJF]

2 minutes ago, TokyoJetsFan said:

Not trying to be a jerk...legit question...do you happen to know his run blocking and overall grades? 

Since taking over at LT in week 2:

 

OVR: 74.2

RBK: 60.9

PBK: 84.5

[Beerfish]

much better than i expected i'll give him his due. 

It will be a legit decision what to do once becton gets back.

[flgreen]

Never really got the Fant hate.  

Nope he's not an All Pro, but he's a better then average hold the fort guy.  Both sides.  

[Hex]

He must be really good at pitching with his non-dominant hand, then. He's pretty good

[David Harris]

He’s doing his #1 job in protecting Zach but there is no question that Mekhi starts LT as soon as he’s ready to go. Mekhi is still a baby with crazy upside. Played very well last year. Could match Fant’s pass blocking and dominate the run game especially next to AVT. Start the future asap.

Moses is better than Fant on the right side. Put Fant on the bench, use him like Seattle did and use 3 tackles at times.

Fant is the 9th highest paid RT in the NFL which is insane until you realize he was signed to be a starting LT.  His contract is up and someone will be happy to pay him just for his pass blocking at LT but it won’t be the Jets. 

JD deserves a ton of credit for signing Morgan Moses. To have a backup plan the caliber of Fant rarely happens.

[JohnnyLV]

2 hours ago, David Harris said:

He’s doing his #1 job in protecting Zach but there is no question that Mekhi starts LT as soon as he’s ready to go. Mekhi is still a baby with crazy upside. Played very well last year. Could match Fant’s pass blocking and dominate the run game especially next to AVT. Start the future asap.

Moses is better than Fant on the right side. Put Fant on the bench, use him like Seattle did and use 3 tackles at times.

Fant is the 9th highest paid RT in the NFL which is insane until you realize he was signed to be a starting LT.  His contract is up and someone will be happy to pay him just for his pass blocking at LT but it won’t be the Jets. 

JD deserves a ton of credit for signing Morgan Moses. To have a backup plan the caliber of Fant rarely happens.

I think he is signed through next year.

[jamesr]

His pass blocking is fine, but from what I've seen he's more of a liability than an asset in the run game.

I guess it depends on what you want at that position ... last year our run game was strong off the left side, it would be good to return to that IF the pass blocking doesn't suffer as a result.

[Claymation]

Fant is a liability in the run game.

[sec143dmf]

Simple answer. Better then Becton

[rangerous]

6 hours ago, TokyoJetsFan said:

Not trying to be a jerk...legit question...do you happen to know his run blocking and overall grades? 

as i recall his run block games are so-so.  he's kind of the opposite of van roten in that van roten has good run block grades and bad pass block.  and let's not forget he's playing next to avt who is having a great season all around.

[Irish Jet]

Becton shouldn't get his job back. Move him or bench him. He needs a f*cking wake up call. 

Doesn't matter if Fant can run block or not - He's doing the most important thing. Let the other linemen deal with that. 

[T0mShane]

I, too, think it would be a good idea to replace an elite pass-blocking OLT with Mekhi Becton (who has been on the couch for a calendar year) at the very point where, theoretically, Zack Wilson should be rounding into form.

[rox]

Better than i thought he would be. When Becton returns.. decision time. A nice decision to have. 

[Jimmy 2 Times]

We are supposed to be a run first team. Ticket will play when he’s healthy. 
 

[Biggs]

LT job is to protect the blind side of the QB.   Fant was always projected as a LT.  Raw athletic talent for the position.  He’s finally developed.  There is no way he should lose his job.  Let him and VT continue to work together.  If Becton can’t play RT and he’s healthy and in shape he has high trade value.  

[Integrity28]

No way can you justify benching/moving him at this point. He’s one of the only Jets executing his job.

[Barton]

He's done well but who has he really played against?

[section314]

7 minutes ago, Biggs said:

LT job is to protect the blind side of the QB.   Fant was always projected as a LT.  Raw athletic talent for the position.  He’s finally developed.  There is no way he should lose his job.  Let him and VT continue to work together.  If Becton can’t play RT and he’s healthy and in shape he has high trade value.  

As what? Devil's advocate here.....if he loses his job at LT, and can't play RT, what is the value? My point is, Becton will play LT here for years.

[Sperm Edwards]

8 hours ago, David Harris said:

He’s doing his #1 job in protecting Zach but there is no question that Mekhi starts LT as soon as he’s ready to go. Mekhi is still a baby with crazy upside. Played very well last year. Could match Fant’s pass blocking and dominate the run game especially next to AVT. Start the future asap.

Moses is better than Fant on the right side. Put Fant on the bench, use him like Seattle did and use 3 tackles at times.

Fant is the 9th highest paid RT in the NFL which is insane until you realize he was signed to be a starting LT.  His contract is up and someone will be happy to pay him just for his pass blocking at LT but it won’t be the Jets. 

JD deserves a ton of credit for signing Morgan Moses. To have a backup plan the caliber of Fant rarely happens.

Fant’s contract isn’t up after this year. He’ll be about $10MM in new money next year (not guaranteed, though), plus another $1MM from his signing bonus hits the cap whether he’s on the team or not.

Also Seattle used him that way because he was dirt cheap. Nobody pays a backup/swing tackle $10MM (let alone while squeezing other starting players out of millions). The players are well aware how much each other makes.

6 hours ago, johnnysd said:

I think he is signed through next year.

Correct.

One problem with Becton’s injury is that he isn’t going to get back until the trade dealine has passed, so (barring a Becton trade) all three starting tackles, for two starting tackle positions, are going to be here this season. Moses I think is only on a 1-year deal. Fant has one more year, and Becton 2 more (plus an option yr for one more, which is a notch lower $ because he wasn’t a top 10 pick).

After this season they have a lot of options. The easiest is to just not re-sign Moses.

Or they could re-sign Moses & trade Fant. A veteran LT who’s been top-notch in pass blocking, whose contract is just under $10MM for the year, without a long-term committment required, would have some trade value.

The most versatile + efficient option is to have 2 starters for 2 positions: just let Moses go and just bring back Fant/Becton.

• Let Fant/Becton battle it out for who plays which position.
• Fant’s run-blocking is no less of a liability at RT than LT, so maybe he stays there if his current level of play continues.

The most injury-bulletproof option would be to bring back all 3 (as this year demonstrated firsthand).

• However if Fant isn’t one of the two starters it rarely sits well among the players to have a $10MM player (whose contract wasn’t guaranteed in ‘22) backing up two $5MM starters.
• A non-starting swing tackle isn’t a $10MM position, and it could be bad for morale to give him - yet another veteran starter - the Crowder treatment after waiting until everyone else already has their starting tackles in place.
• It could be that money was the tie-breaker when Fant started over Moses opening day; the idea being that, while their individual strengths were different, overall neither was night & day better than the other & they wouldn’t have that lopsided $ arrangement. Plus Moses had playing time incentives.
• With more options where to go in March, Moses may not want to return to a team where he isn’t effectively guaranteed a starting job, since he isn’t getting 2 guaranteed $ seasons from anyone.

With so much cap space, and so little clout for the GM & HC/OC to weather the excuses of an injured OT starter next year, their best option may be just to bring back all 3 in their current roles (whatever those will be when Becton returns lol), even if it’s a inefficient use of space, and maybe put a bit of a squeeze on Fant in late August if he doesn’t beat out both next year. I don’t love the squeeze practice, but if he gets beat out he’s put himself in that situation, and in late Aug he’s not getting a guaranteed $10MM from anyone else anyway (salaries become guaranteed once he makes that final cut for week 1).

[More Cowbell]

Becton is not going to sit. This is one of JD's big selections  and he will play. What most likely  happens  is Fant moves back to RT and Moses either goes to the bench or they  move him to G and end the GVR experiment.  

[Sammybighead]

Runs off left tackle have been non-existent with fant. People seem to forget how a good running game ALSO protects a qb

[Fantasy Island]

54 minutes ago, Jimmy 2 Times said:

We are supposed to be a run first team. Ticket will play when he’s healthy. 
 

 

[sec101row23]

I don’t think we’ll have to worry about where to play Becton this year, I doubt he comes back to play.  We’ll hear about several setbacks during his rehab process. 

[rangerous]

10 minutes ago, More Cowbell said:

Becton is not going to sit. This is one of JD's big selections  and he will play. What most likely  happens  is Fant moves back to RT and Moses either goes to the bench or they  move him to G and end the GVR experiment.  

i like playing becton and at tackle.  move moses to rg and put becton at rt.  leave fant and avt alone.  of course this assume moses can play guard.  moses does have some issues playing tackle.

[jamesr]

8 minutes ago, Sammybighead said:

Runs off left tackle have been non-existent with fant. People seem to forget how a good running game ALSO protects a qb

This. Watch the run play that was posted here (the Baldy commentary) where everyone was wowing at AVT. Fant is pushed back so far that instead of the RB going behind him he has to run in front, and Beasley just disengages from Fant and tackles the RB as he goes past. AVT made a great block but it counted for nothing as the RB was stopped before he even got that far.

[More Cowbell]

9 minutes ago, rangerous said:

i like playing becton and at tackle.  move moses to rg and put becton at rt.  leave fant and avt alone.  of course this assume moses can play guard.  moses does have some issues playing tackle.

There is no way Becton is going to the right side. Becton has a much higher ceiling than Fant. Fant right now is at the top or near the top of his play. The Jets have invested in Becton big time and they will make every effort to make him a franchise LT. 

[Biggs]

2 hours ago, section314 said:

As what? Devil's advocate here.....if he loses his job at LT, and can't play RT, what is the value? My point is, Becton will play LT here for years.

Becton will be lucky to play a down this year.  

[AFJF]

3 hours ago, T0mShane said:

I, too, think it would be a good idea to replace an elite pass-blocking OLT with Mekhi Becton (who has been on the couch for a calendar year) at the very point where, theoretically, Zack Wilson should be rounding into form.

It's an interesting question, but where do you move Mekhi?

[Copernicus]

10 hours ago, AFJF said:

Have been very impressed with Fant at LT and decided to see where PFF had him ranked since taking over at LT in week 2.  Numbers were even better than I expected.

 

Remember when we signed him?  How most were like "who?" Yeah, another player that gets forgotten about when the wagons start circling on Joe Douglas 

[derp]

Realistically there's probably more nuance to how good guys are at LT and RT than we give it credit for as we argue on a message board. You'd hope the coaching staff could figure that out.

It is wild how quickly the narrative on Becton has flipped. Not without reason, but still pretty crazy. He was so good at points as a rookie.

If Becton comes back I'd love to see if Moses could function at guard. I'm skeptical but GVR has been so, so bad I think it's worth a shot.

Fant's pass protection is nice, but the run blocking is a liability short-term and long-term. Obviously the pass protection helps the young QB but the run game is pretty rough, defenses don't have to respect it and the offense ends up in bad down and distance. 

Almost wonder if given the pass blocking he has trade market value - after this season - for the right team. Pretty affordably signed through the year and Moses hasn't been bad at RT. They're likely drafting a future tackle this year at some point anyway - Douglas likes to draft needs a year early, and a scenario where they re-sign Moses for a year, flip Fant, and draft a tackle day 2 to compete with Moses (or Becton) is probably a good use of assets.

[JazzyJet]

I

Quote

17 minutes ago, AFJF said:

It's an interesting question, but where do you move Mekhi?

 

I think this may be a catch 22.

On the one hand, if Becton continues to struggle in pass protection ZWs progress will be hindered.

On the other hand, if we can't establish the run without Becton on the left ZWs progress will be hindered.

[TheNuuFaaolaExperience]

This goes against the JD ignored the OL narrative. He solidified the tackle position.