Morgan Moses knows what it’s like to switch between right and left tackle, so when first-round draft pick Olu Fashanu switched positions from his natural position on the left side during training camp on Monday, Moses told Fashanu to “embrace it.”
“That’s the only thing you can do,” Jets right tackle Moses said. “At the end of the day, maybe you were bad today, but you practice and you know what’s going on, you can be better tomorrow. … So every time he practices, the more we all practice and cross-train, the more we can do.”
The Jets deployed Fashanu, the 11th overall pick in April’s draft as a future left tackle, on the right side of the line for the first time, and coach Robert Saleh plans to do that over the next two weeks to help Fashanu learn balance between the different positions.
Fashanu’s playing time is up in the air this year with two-time All-Pro Tyron Smith at left tackle and Moses at right tackle, but looking at the long-term scope of his NFL career, “I definitely think cross-training will help me a lot,” Moses said.
Moses said the biggest difference between the two positions comes from coordination and playing alongside another player on the line.
There are some guys who can do it well, and Fashanu appears to be one of those linemen, he added.
Fashanu made his pre-season debut against the Commanders on Saturday and impressed Saleh in several ways.
Saleh said the next test will be against the Panthers this weekend, saying, “Now that we’ve got that first game under our belts, I want to see a big leap forward.”
And between those two samples, the Jets also experimented with cross-training.
“You’ve got to make him comfortable,” offensive line coach Keith Carter said, “and it’s got to become muscle memory on both sides. It’s kind of cool. It’s going to be fun to see how far he can go and how quickly he can grow because of it.”
Aaron Rodgers missed Thursday’s joint practice with the Commanders due to weather but returned to practice on Monday as expected.
Smith took part in individual workouts but did not take part in team drills, in keeping with the plan to tread carefully with the veteran offensive lineman during training camp and help him log his first full season since 2015.
“It’s not a big secret, but we’re going to be smart with him, and a lot of it is us protecting him from himself,” Saleh said, “because when he steps on the court, he’s going 100 miles per hour.”
The Jets expect cornerback Michael Carter II to return to practice next week. … Saleh said tight end Jeremy Ruckert is “having some issues” and will miss the next few days. … WR Mike Williams is still “a couple weeks” away from practicing with the team, but Saleh reiterated that they’ll take it slowly, saying, “The harder he tries, the harder we’re going to try.”
The Jets signed tight end Neil Johnson and linebacker Anthony Hines, while waiving linebacker Jimmy Sciaro and cornerback Myles Jones, who both tore their ACLs in Saturday’s preseason game.
