Jets Country

George Fant Landing on Injured Reserve Creates Nightmare Scenario For Jets

Fant will join Mekhi Becton and Duane Brown on injured reserve with Zach Wilson preparing to return from his knee injury.

Max Goodman

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One day after Jets head coach Robert Saleh told reporters George Fant would be day-to-day with a knee injury, New York placed the left tackle on injured reserve 

Fant exited Sunday's game against the Bengals after 43 snaps. Now, he'll miss at least four games, the third offensive tackle on this roster to land on injured reserve this year. 

New York has been dealing with miserable injury luck at the tackle spot, losing Mekhi Becton for the season in August. They signed veteran Duane Brown to fill in for Becton, losing him to IR after after he suffered a shoulder injury right before the regular season. 

With those three unavailable, New York will be forced to dip even deeper into the depth up front. Rookie Max Mitchell has already been starting at right tackle this season and vet Conor McDermott filled in for Fant last week. While placing Fant on IR, New York signed Cedric Ogbuehi to the active roster, adding Mike Remmers to the practice squad. Both those tackles have plenty of experience in the league, but there's a reason they're still on the open market at this point in the year. 

This isn't ideal for any team in any situation, but losing three starting tackles is especially significant for a club that's about to welcome their starting quarterback back from knee surgery.

There's a good chance Zach Wilson is cleared for this Sunday's game against the Steelers in Pittsburgh, coming back from a preseason non-contact injury that led to surgery. Wilson might be healthy to return, but putting him in a situation where he's protected by backups on both sides is a nightmare scenario. 

Still, Saleh made it clear earlier in the week that he has faith in Mitchell and McDermott to get the job done.

"You’re down to your fourth and fifth guys. At this point in the season, you don’t anticipate that," Saleh told reporters on Monday. "But I love the way Max Mitchell has come in and played, he’s doing a really nice job. [McDermott] came in on short notice and did an admirable job. Hopefully if he has to step up again, he’s played a lot of games in this league, so at the end of the day, no one cares. You got to line up, you got to play football, you got to protect the quarterback."

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Max Goodman
MAX GOODMAN

Max Goodman covers the New York Jets for Sports Illustrated and FanNation. He also covers the New York Yankees, publisher  of Sports Illustrated and FanNation's Yankees site, Inside The Pinstripes. Before starting out with SI, Goodman attended Northwestern University and the Medill School of Journalism. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast Journalism and Master’s Degree in Sports Media, graduating in 2019. While at school, Goodman gathered valuable experience as an anchor and reporter on NNN SportsNight and played on the club baseball team. Goodman previously interned at MLB.com as an associate reporter covering the Miami Marlins. He also interned with ESPN, working as an associate reporter on Mike Greenberg's Get Up. Goodman is from New York City. He grew up in Hell's Kitchen. Follow Goodman on Twitter @MaxTGoodman and connect with him via email by reaching out at maxgoodmansports@gmail.com.

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