Alijah Vera-Tucker injury replacement is proving Jets' OL can still thrive

Heading into the season, perhaps the New York Jets' strongest unit was the offensive line. Of course, in typical Jets fashion, that would all get turned on its head just days before the season began, with Alijah Vera-Tucker going down with a torn triceps that ended his season before the regular season kick-off.

It's not an understatement to say that Vera-Tucker was the most impactful member of the all-important unit. Sure, Olu Fashanu plays the premium left tackle position and Armand Membou is the shiny new rookie, but it's been the injury-plagued Vera-Tucker who has been the engine that makes the line go.

Whether it's his skill or his versatility, losing Vera-Tucker raised alarm bells for a team that has been plagued by poor offensive line play for far too long. While long-term questions are raised about the talented lineman's future with the Jets, the more pressing question is whether or not the Jets' offense would be doomed without him.

Tanner Engstrand wanted to employ a run-heavy offense this season, but how could that possibly work without the Jets' best run blocker? Furthermore, would the resulting shuffle — Joe Tippman sliding from center to guard and the insertion of one of the league's worst run blocking centers in Josh Myers — have any shot of being successful?

Josh Myers proves the Jets' OL might be just fine after all with Week 1 performance

There were a lot of standout offensive performances in Week 1 for the Jets, something that isn't commonly said, but in this case is very true. Justin Fields had the best game of his career, Garrett Wilson was a stud with seven catches for 95 yards and a touchdown, but it was the running game that made everything happen.

The Jets tallied the fourth-highest (prior to Monday's Bears-Vikings matchup) rushing yard total in the league with 182. As a team, they posted the eighth-best run blocking grade at 63.8. The biggest takeaway is that Armand Membou is a stud. The second-biggest takeaway? Josh Myers might be better than expected.

Myers was the seventh-highest graded Jet on offense by PFF. Aside from Fields, Wilson, and Hall, only Membou, Tippmann, and Jeremy Ruckert out-ranked him. A good part of the reason for that is that Myers was actually pretty good in the run game.

The four-year vet has never posted a season where he finished above 55.2 for his PFF run grade, so his 63.2 mark on Sunday is a pretty stark improvement. Rather than getting bullied as has often been the case in the past, he held his own, and then some.

If that continues, the Jets will be in pretty good shape. But beyond that, Myers' insertion into the lineup can have a trickle-down effect that might make the unit even better than expected.

By sliding Tippmann to guard, the Jets are minimizing his involvement with the things he struggles with, particularly snapping the ball, setting protections, and knowing where to help in pass protection. Instead, Tippman can focus on what he does best, utilizing his incredible athleticism to win one-on-one matchups.

At right guard, Tippmann posted an 80.1 pass blocking grade, a mark that would've been the second-highest of his season last year. That means, there's a reasonable chance that Tippmann can turn in a very close approximation of Vera-Tucker's performance at right guard, while Myers serves as an improvement in the areas of center where he was deficient.

As long as Myers' run blocking holds up, that is. He passed the Week 1 test, which should encourage you. If he can keep this up, this can still be a near-elite unit, which didn't seem likely just a few short days ago.

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