It’s an unfortunate reality that injuries are a common part of life in the NFL, and that goes double for the offensive linemen. The danger for offensive linemen is actually greatest from their own players. We often see a running back getting tackled in the backfield and inadvertently landing on the back of a lineman’s legs, which can cause catastrophic injuries given the location of the fall, the sheer size of linemen, and the fact that the lineman never saw it coming.

That makes offensive line depth critical for NFL teams seeking to make a playoff run, and that’s where the New York Jets appear to be strong. ESPN recently listed one ‘nonstarter to know’ for each NFL team and for the Jets, that player is former Green Bay Packer Josh Myers. Writing for ESPN, analyst Aaron Schatz had this to say about Myers: “He was a starter for the past three seasons in Green Bay, but Myers signed a one-year deal in New York to be a backup. It seems like a strange decision, but Myers gives the Jets fantastic depth if there are injuries at any of the three interior line positions.”

Myers could never put it together as a starter for the Packers which is why he wasn’t re-signed this past offseason, but serving in a backup role could be exactly what he needs for his NFL career. If he only needs to come in for a handful of snaps in a game or start for a short stretch of games, he could prove his value as a depth piece and stick around in New York beyond 2025.

Myers has another advantage on his side, and that would be his chemistry with quarterback Justin Fields: both Fields and Myers played at Ohio State in 2019 and 2020. There’s even a humorous video from the 2021 NFL offseason in which a rookie Justin Fields, then a Chicago Bear, was asked where his center from college got drafted, to which Fields quipped, “The wrong team. The Packers.”

Don’t expect Myers to suddenly blossom into a Pro Bowler or even to seriously challenge one of the current starters for their jobs, but he can provide quality play in a pinch and that could mean the difference between winning and losing in the NFL.