New York Jets: Chuma Edoga can be ‘long-term building block’ at LT

The New York Jets will be forced to see what they have in Chuma Edoga. Here’s why they’re going to love what they see for the present and future.

There is good news and bad news for the New York Jets heading into Week 7 vs the New England Patriots.

The bad news is veteran left tackle Kelvin Beachum got injured last Sunday vs the Dallas Cowboys. He’s dealing with an ankle injury that could keep him out for Week 7.

The good news? The Jets may have found their left tackle of the future in Chuma Edoga.

With the 92nd overall pick in the third round of the 2019 NFL Draft, the New York Jets snagged Edoga from USC.

Players slip in the draft for a reason. Sometimes it’s for lack of talent, perhaps the player is raw, or maybe even has character problems.

Chuma didn’t slip in the draft because of a lack of talent, reportedly he slipped because teams questioned his maturity (more on that later).

While Chuma doesn’t have a ton of experience at left tackle (only two starts at LT in college), he has all the measurables and traits to make that transition.

Edoga measures in at 6-foot-3, 308 pounds with 34 3/4 arms, 9 5/8 hands.

He displayed those traits in spot duty covering the blindside for Sam Darnold on Sunday vs the Dallas Cowboys. Chuma didn’t allow a single hit from Demarcus Lawrence.

Executive Director of the Reese’s Senior Bowl Jim Nagy said that “the Jets have a long-term building block in talented rookie Chuma Edoga. In Last year’s Senior Bowl, five offensive linemen were taken in the 1st round and Edoga won “Practice Player of the Week” honors over all of them.”

Back on June 20th, Jim Nagy joined Rich Cimini on the Flight Deck podcast and made some interesting points about Chuma Edoga from his experience at the Senior Bowl that are worth re-visiting:

“Chuma is really talented. Our west coast NFL scout that works for us at the Senior Bowl said at the bottom of his report that he wasn’t sure if we should reward this player with a Senior Bowl invite because there were some questions there in terms of his commitment to football and some things of that nature. Nothing off the field, like he’s a bad person or anything, but just his commitment to the game.

I think if he didn’t have those questions about his makeup, he would’ve been a first-round pick. From a pure talent perspective, the Jets could’ve really hit a home run here. He’s got starting left tackle ability and those guys are hard to find, especially out of the first round.

While Edoga played mostly right tackle at USC, so did Tyron Smith, not that he’s in that same category, but Tyron was the same way coming out he played right tackle at USC. Everyone assumes it’s easy just to flip sides from right to left, but it’s very difficult. Edoga excelled when he practiced at left tackle with us at the Senior Bowl. He’s got the feet and the pass pro ability to play left tackle in the NFL.”

This was back several months before Chuma even suited up for the green and white in 2019. Nagy knows his stuff and to hear this kind of review is highly encouraging moving forward.

The #Jets Zone w/ @BoyGreen25 feat @JimNagy_SB:– Breaking down Joe Douglas hire + his new staff (Rex Hogan, @PhilSavage, & Chad Alexander).– What he learned after the 1st year w/ @seniorbowl + where they plan on taking the #SeniorBowl. #TakeFlighthttps://t.co/M9wGmhiUso

— The Jets Zone (@TheJets_Zone) June 19, 2019

Although Nagy wasn’t the only expert that weighed in on Chuma’s performance on Sunday and his potential moving forward:

“His ability to get to blocks in a variety of positions from his initial stance is something that cannot be taught,” per Lance Zierlein.

Lance wasn’t the only analyst that was impressed.

Brandon Thorn an offensive line analyst and film scout loved Edoga’s “explosiveness/efficiency out of his stance & in his pass sets have jumped out, not to mention active, quick strikes & the ability to re-leverage.”

While Thorn noted it wasn’t a “perfect” performance, he says there are a lot more positives than negatives and labeled him a “gem”.

With what this “gem” has shown thus far, the Jets should feel very good about the future of the left tackle position moving forward and that’s one of the most comfortable feelings in the world. Just ask his former and now reunited teammate Sam Darnold.