Young Jets star will have to step up again vs Broncos as injured veteran misses time.
Jets quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters before practice on Wednesday that he doesn’t like to make comparisons. He then made an exception to that rule in order to pay a compliment Olu Fashanu.
“From the beginning, I felt like he reminded me a lot of D’Brickashaw [Ferguson]” Rodgers said of the rookie tackle. “Personality wise, and then just consistency … It’s just never been too big for Olu.”
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Fashanu, selected at No. 11 overall in this year’s draft out of Penn State, wasn’t the sexy first-round pick that some Jets fans were hoping for. But when veteran tackle Morgan Moses went down with a knee injury in the third quarter of Thursday’s 24-3 win over the Patriots, Fashanu entered the game in his place. There was the confirmation that the Jets made the right choice in focusing on offensive line depth with their top pick.
Head coach Robert Saleh said on Wednesday that Moses will miss “a couple games”, but won’t be placed on injured reserve. That mean’s that Fashanu, who played 14 snaps on Thursday, will be stepping up when the Jets host the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
“He’s got a lot of reps in the second half of camp at right [tackle],” Saleh said. “Obviously he got more comfortable as camp went on. So we’ve got a lot of faith in Olu to go out and execute.”
Fashanu said in April that he’s been working at right tackle since last year at Penn State and mostly trained at right tackle during the pre-draft process. He said he’s had conversations with Moses after the veteran’s injury about stepping up in his place.
“Morgan’s probably the the best guy to talk to after something like that,” Fashanu said. “He’s just a guy that instills a lot of confidence in you to just go out and go ball.”
The Jets expect Moses to be back before the four games he would have to miss if he went on injured reserve. The 32-year-old will miss this week’s game against Denver and Week 5 in London against the Vikings. When the Jets get back, they host the Bills before traveling to Pittsburgh to face the Steelers.
