The New York Jets’ Ongoing Mekhi Becton Problem Stems From A Previous Sunk-Cost Issue

When Mekhi Becton suffered a serious knee injury in the second half of the New York Jets’ season opener at Carolina last September, nobody could have predicted the timetable for his return would be this murky more than eight months later.

Jets head coach Robert Saleh would not commit to Becton being ready for Organized Team Activities, i.e., voluntary practices in May, when asked about Becton on Monday at the NFL owners’ meetings in Palm Beach, Fla.

“He’s putting in the (physical) work,” Saleh said. “It’s not easy going through what he’s going through. I’ll speak for him, I do know when he does come back, he’s going to be a ball of butcher knives. So, just really excited to get him back.

“He’s a very large man and he’s been working on that knee,” Saleh added. “The road back for him is going to be harder than a guy like me who, if I had the same injury, I’m lighter. It is what it is.”

Saleh said he is “not sure” if Becton will be able to participate in OTAs.

Becton, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 363 pounds but could weigh more than that, was injured on Sept. 12 when teammate Greg Van Roten was pushed on top of him. But the Jets have only themselves to blame for this, and not only because Van Roten, who has since lost his starting role, was unable to avoid the contact from a Carolina defender.

This all can be traced back to ex-Jets head coach Adam Gase, and the economic theory of sunk cost.

A sunk cost is a cost that already has been incurred, and cannot be recovered.

Such as the contract given to an unsuccessful coach. In this case, Adam Gase.

By the end of Gase’s first season in 2019, even though the Jets rebounded from a 1-7 start to finish 7-9, it could have been argued that bringing back Gase for a second year wasn’t the best idea. That 6-2 finish included six victories against teams with a cumulative record of 37-59, and had been achieved when the pressure was off.

The Jets beat only one playoff team during that run, a Buffalo team resting most of its starters in the final week.

Understandably, it would have been tough for then-acting owner Christopher Johnson to have fired Gase after one season of a four-year deal. But it would have been the right move, even though the Jets still were paying off fired predecessor Todd Bowles through the end of 2020.

Of course, everyone knows what happened next. The Jets started 0-13 in 2020 and Gase was fired one day after the end of a 2-14 season, the textbook example of a sunk cost.

New York likely would have handled things differently if given a second chance, and Becton is one big reason why, literally and figuratively.

With Gase still at the helm, general manager Joe Douglas selected Becton with the 11th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. The logic made sense. The Jets were giving quarterback Sam Darnold one more chance to prove himself, and thus needed a left tackle to protect his blind side. Douglas loved Becton’s size and incredible mobility to go with that size.

But let’s play the sunk-cost scenario, if the Jets had recognized it and avoided it.

Saleh, then San Francisco’s defensive coordinator, was on his way in January 2020 to helping the 49ers reach the Super Bowl. During their bye week, he interviewed with Cleveland for its head-coach vacancy and impressed its management, although the Browns eventually went with Kevin Stefanski.

Could Saleh have been hired by the Jets a year earlier? Remember, the same two people, Johnson and Douglas, would have been making the decision, so it is not at all a remote possibility.

Had the Jets made the switch from Gase to Saleh in the prior off-season, they almost certainly wouldn’t have drafted Becton.

Here’s why:

The Shanahan-style offense, which Saleh imported from the 49ers, favors quicker, smaller offensive tackles. Note that of the four teams in the AFC and NFC title games this past season, three of them featured Shanahan-style offenses. Only Kansas City did not.

Amongst the 49ers, Cincinnati and the Los Angeles Rams, none of their regular starters at tackle in 2021 weighed in at more than 330 pounds. That makes Becton, at 363, quite the outlier.

Iowa tackle Tristan Wirfs also was available when Douglas selected. At 6-5, 320, Wirfs would be a better fit in the Jets’ current offense. Instead, he went at No. 13 to Tampa Bay and was a first team All-Pro last year, albeit at right tackle, not left.

As for what’s next, Saleh said that “George (Fant) has earned the right to be in the conversation to have that left tackle spot and Mekhi is out there. Call it a competition if you want. We know what George has done and really excited to get him back, too.”

Fant, who has a salary-cap figure of $11.102 million this season, per overthecap.com, is in the final year of his contract. Another good year, much like the one Fant had in 2021 at left tackle, could set him up for a big free-agent contract someplace else where he won’t have to worry about a younger player challenging him for the spot at left tackle.

Becton will count for $5.030 million against the salary cap in 2022 and $5.869 million in ’23. If and when he gets back on the field, he must either show he can play in this system, or show enough that the Jets can trade him for a decent return.

If not, the Jets could be staring at—you guessed it—another sunk-cost dilemma.