Many folks were surprised when the Jets took the field on offense for the first time against the Steelers to see that Alijah Vera-Tucker was starting at left tackle. But it was far from a surprise for the Jets’ coaching staff. This was a possible move weeks in the making.
Head coach Robert Saleh was asked by Dennis Waszak of The Associated Press about the plan to move Vera-Tucker to tackle and how the conversation came about. He had this to say about it:
“To be honest with everyone, it’s kind of been in the making, it’s been a few weeks in advance, he’s been working on some left tackle sets and just kind of preparing himself for this moment and it just happened, but he was ready to go, he’s been preparing for it, and he hasn’t been taking practice reps, but on his own time after practice, he’s been putting in a little extra time to get himself prepared for this in the event that it did happen and it was one of those last case, worst case scenarios, got to happen, credit to him and his preparation and his mindset to go out there and not even flinch, and make the best of it and do a really good job with it also.”
Obviously, the injuries along the offensive line, including a handful of players on injured reserve, have led the Jets to begin having these discussions. The move was an easy one to make because one of the reasons Vera-Tucker was a top prospect coming out of USC was his ability to play both guard and tackle at a high level. He showed the world that versatility once again by having another fantastic game in his first outing at tackle against the Steelers.
Duane Brown is eligible to return to action this week, but there’s certainly no guarantee he will and with Max Mitchell potentially going on injured reserve, another week of AVT at LT is definitely in the cards this week against the Dolphins.