New York Jets: Starting offensive line united for 1st time in 2019

The New York Jets have battled a slew of injuries and finally for the first time this offseason the offensive line was reunited. Here are all the details.

The New York Jets have had a very productive offseason, and while they’ve signed big stars like Le’Veon Bell and CJ Mosley, the most important thing the organization has done is bring in protection for the future of the franchise, Sam Darnold.

They did that in the form of trading for Kelechi Osemele, drafting Chuma Edoga and bringing Ryan Kalil out of retirement, but it wasn’t until this past week that we saw all of the Jets pieces together in practice.

According to Connor Hughes of The Athletic, Osemele and Winters are finally taking part in full-team drills. On top of that new addition, Ryan Kalil also joined the squad during Tuesday’s practice.

With the three of them on the field together, this is the first time we’ve seen the offensive line at full strength with all of its pieces this offseason.

Osemele and Winters are both back and taking part in full-team drills. Huge plus for #Jets. With Kalil out there, too, this is first time starting o line has worked together this camp

— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) August 27, 2019

Unfortunately, early on in training camp, Brian Winters suffered an injury.  Plus with Ryan Kalil coming out of retirement he hasn’t been in football shape yet.

Despite this, Darnold and the entire offense has been incredibly impressive through three preseason games:

Sam has gone 17-of-25, for 211 yards, and has led three touchdown drives finishing with an overall quarterback rating of 120.6.

There are still questions along the line, as Osemele, Winters, and Kalil make up just 60 percent of the entire line, but this is the first step in helping Sam take the next step to lead this team going forward.

The Jets haven’t had this much confidence in the trenches since the days of Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson, but with three big cogs finally coming together and some depth around them, Darnold may flourish in 2019.