NY Jets offer few details on Mekhi Becton’s chest injury

The NY Jets offered very few details about Mekhi Becton’s chest injury.

The NY Jets have been impressed with the play of rookie left tackle Mekhi Becton early on in his NFL career. But despite his excellent play, he’s also dealt with a couple of injuries that have limited his involvement.

A shoulder injury forced him to miss Weeks 5 and 6 and parts of both Week 3 and 4. He finally returned to action in full health a few weeks ago against the Buffalo Bills, but that clean bill of health didn’t last long.

After a pair of impressive performances against the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, Becton exited the Jets’ Week 9 Monday night loss to the New England Patriots after playing just 15 snaps.

It was initially unclear if he had re-injured his shoulder or how serious it was, but Becton went into the locker room prior to halftime and never returned.

Eventually, he was declared out with a chest injury, but few other details were revealed. And on Tuesday, head coach Adam Gase wasn’t able to offer much more when he spoke to reporters the day after the game.

The NY Jets were rather quiet about the nature of Mekhi Becton’s injury.

Gase revealed Becton was removed because he had trouble breathing and that all he knew at the time was that “he couldn’t play.” He did reveal, however, that there was no muscle damage meaning that he didn’t tear his pectoral muscle as some had feared.

But aside from that, the Jets couldn’t really offer any more information.

Gase did say it was not a lung or heart issue and that they hoped Becton could play in Week 11 when the team returns from their bye week to take on the Los Angeles Chargers.

But of course, more testing will need to be done and there are still around two weeks until then. Becton and the Jets have time, but the injury is certainly a little mysterious.

In seven games played, Becton currently has a 69.1 overall Pro Football Focus grade which ranks 42nd in the NFL. But if not for a pair of games where he played injured, that grade would likely be even higher.

Either way, the early results have been especially promising given the fact that many believed that Becton would be somewhat of a project early in his career. That clearly has proven not to be the case.

As long as he stays healthy, Mekhi Becton seems to have a bright future ahead of him. The Jets will certainly be hoping that his latest chest injury is nothing serious.