The Jets’ offensive line looks a whole lot better on paper than it has in years. Armand Membou, Olu Fashanu and Joe Tippmann give the group a real backbone, while veterans Josh Myers and Dylan Parham fill out what could be the team’s strongest unit heading into 2026.
That said, one spot still threatens to drag the whole thing down: center.
New York passed on addressing the position this offseason, leaving Myers and Xavier Newman as the options to handle the job. Myers brings one obvious selling point - experience. He has started 73 games in his career and has reached at least 16 starts in each of the last four seasons.
But the production has never matched the résumé. Myers has regularly graded out near the bottom of the league at center, and that trend followed him to the Jets. Pro Football Focus gave him a career-low 52.9 overall grade, which ranked second-worst among qualified centers.
When the Jets signed Myers in March 2025 on a one-year, $2 million deal, it looked like a sensible depth move. He was a low-end starter, but a useful backup piece.
Once Alijah Vera-Tucker went down for the season in August, Myers was pushed into a bigger role. The issue, as the source material puts it, was rewarding that role with a raise and no competition.
Now the Jets are stuck with a thin market. The remaining free-agent centers available in late July do not offer much appeal, and any trade for a worthwhile upgrade would cost draft capital that could be better spent on a long-term answer.
That leaves one internal fix that makes a lot of sense: move Joe Tippmann back to center.
Tippmann was drafted 43rd overall in 2023 and has been a starter ever since, despite bouncing around the line. He opened his rookie year at right guard, shifted back to center for the second half of that season, and then started 17 games at center in 2024.
That stretch hinted at a real breakout. In 2024, Tippmann ranked eighth among qualified centers in PFF overall grade at 73.4 and seventh in run-blocking grade at 77.3. The Jets were set to start him there again in 2025 before Vera-Tucker’s injury changed the plan.
Tippmann held up at guard, but his play wasn’t quite as sharp as it had been at center. His overall PFF grade fell to 66.0 in 2025.
Even so, the blocking ability is there. The one thing he would need to clean up at center is his snap accuracy.
If that improves, he has the chance to become one of the league’s best at the position.
Putting Tippmann back in the middle would also open the door to a stronger guard pairing. One name that stands out is Kevin Zeitler.
At 36, he’s still described here as one of the NFL’s top guards. Add him to the mix, and the Jets could field an offensive line without a weak link - the kind of setup that gives the group legitimate top-five upside if the young pieces keep climbing.
Still, there’s a catch. Moving Tippmann again is not a simple plug-and-play decision.
Since arriving in New York, he has already been asked to bounce between guard and center, and that kind of movement can affect development. It can also disrupt the chemistry up front.
There’s also the fact that Tippmann settled in as 2025 went along. After a shaky start, he made real strides, especially in pass protection. From Week 7 on, he posted the best PFF pass-blocking grade among right guards at 81.4, and his 70.5 overall grade ranked 15th.
So the Jets are weighing two competing ideas: maximize talent or preserve continuity. Tippmann is already extended, so he’s part of the long-term picture either way. The only question is where he fits best.
If New York wants the best five linemen on the field, the move is clear enough: Tippmann to center, a quality guard like Zeitler beside him, and a line with far more upside. If the Jets value stability more, Myers stays at center and the reshuffle waits.
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