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\nAs somebody who has spent much of this season defending Jets left tackle Mekhi Becton and\u00a0 his conditioning, it’s time to acknowledge the fact that there’s too much smoke for there not to be any fire.\u00a0 While most of the whispers regarding Becton’s fitness came after Robert Saleh said during the pre-season that Becton has to take better care of himself, he didn’t specifically say it was in regards to his weight.\u00a0 While that would have been the “logical conclusion”, there was both photo and video evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n
Take for example this clip posted by Becton just a couple of weeks before training camp would get under way.\u00a0 Does this look like a guy who hasn’t been putting in work all off-season?\u00a0 Not at all.\u00a0 The guy looks ready to go.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/twitter.com\/BigTicket73\/status\/1411360619366916096<\/p>\n
And then there was the Becton who showed up to camp looking ready for what many thought would be a foundational first season playing next to rookie left guard Alijah Vera-Tucker for what Jets fans hoped would be a dominant tandem for years to come.<\/p>\n\n
Again, what Becton looks like here is a monster NFL left tackle, but nothing about him makes you think he’s not in NFL game shape.\u00a0 However, there were some concerns regarding Becton’s performance as he was repeatedly beaten in practice by Carl Lawson as some suggested he looked rusty.\u00a0 So one comment from the head coach and some struggles in training camp against an elite talent.\u00a0 No reason to panic, right?<\/p>\n
Fast forward to the season opener when Becton dislocated his knee cap and was first reportedly going to miss five weeks.\u00a0 A second opinion said it would be eight weeks.\u00a0 Both projections way off as Becton missed the remainder of the season.\u00a0 There were questions.\u00a0 What were the answers?<\/p>\n
According to Saleh, Becton’s knee just wasn’t healing right because he’s a bigger man.\u00a0 Understandable to a degree, but from 8 weeks recovery to sixteen?\u00a0 That seems a bit excessive.\u00a0 Fans were agitated and began to repeat the earlier rumors regarding Becton’s weight despite the absence of any evidence.<\/p>\n
Move forward once again to the team’s end-of-season press conference when GM Joe Douglas mentioned Becton by name and echoed what Saleh had said in the pre-season…Becton has to come back next season in great shape.\u00a0 Another suggestion that the team wasn’t thrilled with the shape Becton was in.\u00a0 Just days later, things got a bit more specific.<\/p>\n