He’s not only the new kid on the block, he’s the biggest kid on the block.
Literally.
Mekhi Becton makes his presence felt.
Just ask any defensive player from the Jets who has seen the past few days practically for the approach of 6-foot-7, 363-pounds and draft for the first round, which has put them in practice.
Linebackers Neville Hewitt and Blake Cashman got a taste in Monday’s practice, which was the first session of the summer in shoulder pads.
In an early 11-on-11 drill, the 6-2, 234-pound Hewitt was at the wrong end of a Becton downfield block on a running play and was flattened like one of those Bugs Bunny cartoons.
“Yeah, he has me,” Hewitt said later, smiling over a Zoom interview. ‘It was on a pitch where he hit the gap and he got the ball out pretty well. I was pretty impressed. He’s a pretty big guy. ”
Asked if the preference for action plan if a man with 6-7, 363 pounds rumbles towards him is ‘duck’, Hewitt said, ‘When you see him arrive, do better than him and go to him if he will get you. ”
Blake Cashman, a 6-1, 237-pound linebacker recovering from a 2019 shoulder injury, also made up Mekhi’s Wrath on Monday.
“I had to take him one by one, and let’s just say that did not go so well for me,” Cashman said. ‘Today in practice, first day in pads, he made himself known and what he is capable of doing. He is a great player, one who will play a long time in this league. He has so much more potential to grow.
“The first thing that stands out is its size.” ‘
That is the early winner for understatement of training camp.
The ‘7’ ‘and’ 7 ” on Becton’s uniform look bigger than the numbers on everyone’s jersey. He weighed in as the next heaviest player on the team, fellow tackle George Fant, with 41 pounds.
“He’s different, man,” said newcomer Frank Gore, who at 5-9 is almost a foot shorter than Becton. ‘One of the biggest guys I’ve ever run. ”
Becton has also been in talks, according to Gore, the free agent running back in his 16th NFL season.
‘The first day he talks to me about it,’ ‘Gore said. ‘He told me he was‘ Got me ’and‘ I will make sure you get your 4 yard [per carry], I’m taking you where you want to go. “I liked that. I can tell he really enjoyed participating.
“I saw [tape of] him when he was drafted. To move that well and be that big, that’s crazy. ”
What’s crazy is that the Jets have not taken a left-wing approach to anchoring their offensive line with any authority since D’Brickashaw Ferguson retired in 2016.
Becton looks like he has a chance to fill that void and have a sustained presence equal to what Ferguson was for his 10-year career.
It has obviously not been perfect. On a few occasions Monday, linebacker Jordan Jenkins had his way with Becton. But these things should happen with rookie approaches in training camp. Even tackling those in the huddle towering over their teammates.
“It’s rare to see a 370-pound man like he does,” said head coach Adam Gase. ‘It’s hard to explain how it feels when you stand next to him. When you get next to him, you realize how great this man is. When other players talk about its size, its length, its strength, that’s when you know it’s real, it’s not just a coach or a scout. He applies it on the field. ”
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For the second consecutive day, Gase gushed about how far along Becton seems to be in camp so soon.
‘Everything he has done so far has shown me that he must have studied this summer to come here and follow the way he performs,’ ‘Gase sadly. “It’s hard for boys to figure out how to brush [past] play him in the pass, and in the run game it is difficult to move him back. You will not see much penetration.
‘The longer he goes through this training camp, the better he will get. I feel like he handled everything really well. ”
That’s good news for anyone involved with the Jets … except for guys like Hewitt and Cashman when they practice Becton on them.
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