NY Jets: Mekhi Becton seems unlikely to play in Week 6

NY Jets’ rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton seems likely to miss yet another game in Week 6.

The NY Jets don’t have much to remain optimistic about at the moment, and that holds true for the status of their first-round pick, Mekhi Becton.

Becton remains sidelined with a shoulder injury he suffered back in the team’s Week 3 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. And after missing this past week, it seems as though the star rookie is set to miss yet another game this coming Sunday.

The Jets decided to hold Becton out of practice for the second consecutive day on Thursday putting his status for Sunday’s Week 6 matchup with the Miami Dolphins very much in doubt.

And based on the tone of Adam Gase’s reports about Becton’s health, it certainly doesn’t seem very promising.

Becton was removed just before halftime in the Jets’ 36-7 loss to the Colts. After sitting out of practice the subsequent week, Becton was surprisingly active for the team’s Thursday night meeting with the Denver Broncos despite being injured just a few days earlier.

However, the Jets deemed that Becton wasn’t healthy enough to start. Instead, he would be used as an emergency backup plan in case of injury — a decision that Gase told reporters came down to Becton’s strength and pain tolerance.

As fate would have it, Becton’s replacement, Chuma Edoga, would be injured just four plays into the game forcing Becton on to the field. And immediately it became apparent that he shouldn’t have been out there.

The 21-year-old grimaced in pain after every play and ultimately removed himself from the game after playing just 17 snaps. After the game, Gase defended the decision insisting that they weren’t risking re-injury with their prized first-round pick.

But with Becton likely set to miss his second consecutive game following that fateful Thursday night, one has to question whether that’s actually the case.

It seems as though the NY Jets made a mistake playing Mekhi Becton in Week 4.

Clearly, the Jets believed that Becton was healthy enough to participate in a pinch some 14 days ago. But now they don’t believe the same to be the case over two weeks later.

Evidently, something doesn’t add up here. Becton seems to have further injured his shoulder by being forced into that game — a conclusion that neither Gase nor the Jets will admit.

It’s unclear when he will be back, but it is at least encouraging that the Jets haven’t placed him on injured reserve just yet. However, with the way this team manages injuries, it’s certainly not something to rule out.

Either way, Becton will likely miss this Sunday’s game marking the third straight game he doesn’t start. In fact, the former Louisville star has only played around two-and-a-half games of healthy football this season.

The Jets will hope to see their promising young left tackle return as soon as possible. But let’s just hope he’s fully healed this time around.