By Glenn Naughton<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
While the importance of a franchise quarterback is more prominent than at any other time in the history of the NFL, teams continue to show time and again that if you can’t win the battle in the trenches, piling up victories is going to be a tall order.\u00a0The need to be strong on both the offensive and defensive lines is often overlooked by casual fans, but\u00a0you can never understate the importance of winning the battle up front and the impact it has on the final score.<\/p>\n
With one of the most dominant 3-man fronts in the NFL, assuming they retain Damon Harrison, the Jets have their starters set in stone with Muhammad Wilkerson, Harrison and Sheldon Richardson.\u00a0 The offensive line however, is a completely different story.<\/p>\n
With that being the case, it appears new Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan is going to keep signing\u00a0offensive lineman until he runs out of\u00a0money or roster space. \u00a0The recent additions of former New York Giants G\/T James Brewer<\/a>\u00a0along with fellow-free agent\u00a0James Carpenter<\/a> and the re-signing of last season’s starter at RG, Willie Colon<\/a>\u00a0the Jets have a total of thirteen offensive\u00a0linemen.\u00a0 Should they hold on to all thirteen, one would imagine quite the battle for playing time once training camp rolls around.<\/p>\n As Nick Mangold and D’Brickashaw Ferguson are entrenched at center and left tackle respectively, returning starters Brian Winters, Oday Aboushi, Colon and Breno Giacomini might be looking over their shoulders in the not so distant future.<\/p>\n Carpenter was signed to a deal that will pay him roughly $5 million per season which clearly isn’t back-up money. \u00a0Barring a catastrophic showing in camp, he’ll be taking the\u00a0left guard spot he held last season in Seattle which would displace Winters and Aboushi.<\/p>\n While Breno Giacomini is set to make similar money to Carpenter at $5.125 million, he’s one of many players with no ties to the new regime which could mean he won’t be handed a starting job. The top factor that brings Giacomini’s future in to question is the amount of versatility and youth that new offensive line coach Steve Marshall<\/a> will have at \u00a0his disposal.<\/p>\n Both\u00a0Winters and Aboushi are converted tackles who were drafted by former general manager John Idzik.\u00a0 Dakota Dozier, a fourth round selection in last\u00a0 years draft was also an offensive tackle at Furman.<\/p>\n