It’s been a dark and dreary season for the New York Jets. While all the focus is on the future, much of what we’ve had to be happy about is potential.
The potential that some of these young players could step up. The potential that the infrastructure could finally be in place to make the next rookie quarterback a success. The potential that brighter days
But at a certain point, the rubber needs to meet the road. The Jets have dealt in potential and hypotheticals for far too long. The potential that Zach Wilson once showed. The potential that Sam Darnold has reached since escaping New York. For a battered fan base, talking about potential is tiresome.
And that’s where the Jets were with Olu Fashanu. The 11th overall pick of the 2024 draft entered the league with the potential to be an elite left tackle. He showed flashes of potential when he bumped the ghost of Tyron Smith from the starting lineup this time last year.
The promising Penn State product was just that, a potential building block, but the start of the 2025 season showed he hadn’t realized that potential. That might be changing now.
Billed as an elite pass blocker coming out of Happy Valley, Fashanu was a slightly better run blocker than pass blocker in 2024. At times, he looked impressive, but finishing with a 59.4 Pro Football Focus pass blocking grade and a 61,4 run blocking grade, the best he could really say is that he looked good at points for a rookie.
The hope was that his sophomore season would see him take a leap. Instead, Fashanu allowed 18 pressures over his first five games and posted a 62.0 pass blocking grade.
However, since that lackluster start, Fashanu has begun to turn it on. Over his last five contests, Fashanu has earned an 80.2 pass blocking grade, which ranks 10th among all tackles in the same time period. With that, he’s cut the pressures in half, allowing just nine.
He also hasn’t been flagged since Week 3 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, which coincidentally was when all three of the penalties he’s been charged with have occurred.
On the other side, Armand Membou has mostly continued his impressive rookie season, save for a brief hiccup in Weeks 5 and 6. Joe Tippmann at guard has played like a low-end starter, though, except for dreadful performances in Week 2 against the Buffalo Bills and Week 6 against the Denver Broncos, has been mostly solid.
Fashanu still needs to refine his work in the run game. His 58.4 run blocking grade leaves something to be desired, though he did just come off his best performance in that facet against the New England Patriots, posting a 69.2 mark.
Overall, you can see this young trio beginning to coalesce into a respectable unit. This obviously bodes well for the future, and while their ascension isn’t complete, we’re starting to see them gain some traction in the quest to convert potential into production. Finally.
Shortly after Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders endured what he referred to as a “rough” regular-season debut during the club’s 23-16 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski told reporters that the second half of the Baltimore game was Sanders’ first time playing with the starting offense since the draft.
While speaking with reporters on Monday, Stefanski was asked if he would “have changed anything about the approach” regarding the handling of Sanders after what occurred on Sunday.
“I think it’s important that you do what you think is right for a football team,” Stefanski responded, per the Browns’ website. “The development of our players is constant. It doesn’t happen just in one drill or in one practice or one meeting. So, we trust our guys, we trust our backup players to be ready to go. And Shedeur is ready to go. Obviously, I know he wants to play better. I want to coach better, all those types of things, but that’ll come through work. That’s where it will come.”
The Browns bumped Sanders up to the QB2 spot on the depth chart after they traded Week 1 QB1 Joe Flacco to the Cincinnati Bengals on Oct. 7. Sanders was called into action at the beginning of the second half of the Baltimore matchup after starter Dillon Gabriel was ruled out with a concussion.
In total, Sanders completed 4-of-16 passes for 47 yards with no touchdowns and one interception against Baltimore. He probably should’ve had at least one other pass picked off, and he committed an intentional grounding penalty and was sacked twice.
Damien Woody and Shannon Sharpe are among the former NFL players who have suggested Stefanski set Sanders up to fail via the coach’s “very strange” distribution of first-team reps. With Gabriel in the concussion protocol, Sanders is on track to serve as Cleveland’s starter for preparations leading up to this coming Sunday’s game at the Las Vegas Raiders (2-7).
“The starter gets the vast majority, obviously, if not the entire majority,” Stefanski added about possibly giving a rookie backup first-team reps during practices. “I will say this. We trust our players. Shedeur is putting in great work. You know, on the field, in the meeting room, he will be better with reps that he’s getting. …But we trust him and he’s somebody that’s continued to put in the work and will continue to do so.”
Barring a surprising development, Stefanski and Co. should be able to install a game plan built for Sanders this week. If the 23-year-old plays poorly against the Raiders, he almost certainly will return to the bench as soon as for the Browns’ Week 13 game versus the San Francisco 49ers.