CANTON, OH — It may have been Robert Saleh’s first preseason loss as head coach of the New York Jets, but there were plenty of positive takeaways from Thursday night’s 21-16 loss to the Cleveland Browns.
New York stayed relatively healthy at key positions and even had a couple of surprise players show off their impressive skill set throughout the contest. While a lot of key young players looked good at times on Thursday, not everyone had a good game.
We take a look at whose stock is rising and falling on the morning after.
Stock Up: 2023 Rookie Class
Many people came away impressed with the Jets group of rookies and for good reason on Thursday night. First-round pick Will McDonald picked up a couple of pressures along with a sick spin move that had people thinking about Dwight Freeney.
Second-round pick Joe Tippmann played the entire game and was quiet throughout – a perfect sign that an offensive lineman had a good game. Carter Warren was also very strong in relief work of Mekhi Becton. Both young offensive linemen had a good base and also weren’t afraid to push the pile in the run. Izzy Abanikanda also scored the team’s lone touchdown by showing off his speed to the edge.
On defense, McDonald’s exploits were the talk of the town, but Zaire Barnes was moving sideline to sideline at a good pace. He’ll need to be quicker with his reads but for a late-round linebacker, he was perfectly fine.
The entire group had their separate moments to shine against Cleveland’s backups but the Jets have to be thrilled that the entire class looked that good on Thursday night.
Stock Down: Mekhi Becton
The expectation for Becton was that he would play around 20-25 snaps Thursday night as a way to continue recovering from his knee injuries.
He lasted just seven plays before becoming concerned again and only playing on special teams.
This isn’t to say Becton was bad in those seven plays. On the contrary, he had a pancake block in the run and was…
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