Among all the offseason decisions the Jets have to make this season include whether or not the team wants to exercise the fifth-year option on 2020 first-round pick Mekhi Becton. But that’s a decision that is going to take some time to happen.
Jets general manager Joe Douglas said at the Scouting Combine the team is not ready to announce whether or not they will use the option yet on Becton, who has played in one game over the past two seasons due to injury.
“We don’t have to make a decision on the fifth-year option until after the Draft,” Douglas said. “We’re not ready to announce any decision on that.” The actual deadline is May 2.
Douglas said he feels Becton is in a good place and knows how dominant Becton can be when healthy. “I think for any of you guys that were here in the 2020 season you saw what a healthy Mekhi can do on the football field and how dominant of a player he was early in his rookie year. Unfortunately, the last two years have been frustrating from an injury standpoint. But I can tell you that Mekhi’s in as good of a place now as I’ve seen him in a long time. He’s working his tail off and he wants to be the best player he can be for the New York Jets.”
Using the option would cost about $13.5 million for 2024 and that money is immediately guaranteed the moment the option is exercised. It used to be guaranteed for injury only and then became fully guaranteed at the start of the league year of the player’s fifth year.
It’s an interesting decision either way for the Jets at a position that has “a lot of moving pieces” as Douglas put it and where they’d like to “create more stability and continuity, especially with the injuries we sustained last year.”
