Jets' first-round pick is already impressing in his first action this season

The New York Jets and GM Joe Douglas had one goal in mind once the NFL offseason kicked off back in March: protect Aaron Rodgers.

To that end, the team signed and traded for not one, not two but t hree new starting offensive linemen . They signed former All Pro Tyron Smith from the Dallas Cowboys to play left tackle and John Simpson from the Baltimore Ravens to play left guard. They also traded for former Jet Morgan Moses from the Ravens to man the right tackle position.

But Joe Douglas wasn’t done there. He used his first-round draft pick to take Olu Fashanu out of Penn State. Olu has been a left tackle his entire football career and considering the Jets brought in an All-Pro to play the position, the move was a little bit of a head-scratcher.

But with the advancing age of the Jets starting offensive tackles (both are 33) and the number of injuries the Jets have seen along their offensive line (the Jets started 13 different offensive line combinations in 17 games in 2023), the Fashanu pick is about preparing for a long a season and preparing for potential disaster.

Olu Fashanu was not a sexy pick when the Jets took him, but he may end up being one of their most important selections and one of the most important players on this team. With the age, and nature (and turf monster) in the NFL, it is not a matter of IF Fashanu will play, but WHEN. If he can play up to the level the Jets drafted him to play at, then the offense shouldn’t take too much of a hit when he is needed to fill in.

Fashanu saw his first game action last Saturday against the Washington Commanders. He committed one false start penalty on one of the first plays of the game, something that can be chalked up to being amped for his first game action. Other than that, he had a very solid NFL debut.

AtoZ’s James Foster did a fantastic in-depth break down of Olu Fashanu’s first game action:

What I was most impressed with watching Olu was his run blocking. It was a concern coming out of college, but he climbs to the second level with athleticism and fluidity and has no problem putting defenders on their backs when he gets there.

I think it will be important to see Fashanu go up against some better competition in the coming weeks. It is unlikely that we will see very much from Tyron Smith in the preseason so Olu will certainly be able to get his chance.

The Jets go up against the Carolina Panthers on Saturday (with a joint practice scheduled for Thursday) and the end the preseason back at home against the New York Giants, who they will also have a joint practice with.

Related: Former first round pick has a chance to make Jets GM’s job easier with a good performance against the Panthers