Saleh Thinks Becton Will Return; Won’t Speculate On His Position

Robert Saleh spoke to the media on Wednesday and gave injury updates for the NY Jets Roster.  An interesting exchange took place when Saleh was asked about Mekhi Becton returning. More on that below, first here is the injury update.

Elijah Moore is dealing with a quad, he’s day-to-day. Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, he’s day-to-day. Tevin Coleman and Michael Carter II are in the concussion protocol. Trevon Wesco is day-to-day with an ankle. Ryan Griffin is day-to-day with an ankle. (Sheldon) is day-to-day with a knee. None of them are practicing today.

Keelan Cole is back off the COVID list and is practicing.

Mike White is still going through the return to play as it pertains to COVID. Kind of similar to (Denzel) Mims, because had two weeks, there’s a process that they have to go through to get him back. So, we’re working through that.

How serious is Elijah’s injury? Is that related to the injury he suffered in training camp?

We’ll know more as the week goes on. I’m still hopeful that he’ll be able to make it Sunday. No, it came on really late, so I didn’t have any detail on Monday. Didn’t really get a hold of it until really Tuesday.

Mekhi Becton Update

No update yet. It’s really the same. He hasn’t had a setback or anything, just everyone is different in terms of how they heal and all that stuff. So, hopefully we can get something going soon, but it’s all the same.

Was he supposed to be on the field, like field work?

He’s still doing field work.

Everyone is different and some people take a little longer, but this was originally a four-to-six recovery, then went four-to-eight. We’re now about a month past that eight-week timetable, is it alarming at all that he’s not…?

No, because his was different. You’re right, it was different in terms of, if you guys remember there was that talk of whether or not there was going to be surgery to shut it down, too. So, his was a little bit different than any other one. Always felt like it was going to be more, personally, just because the way it was spoken was different than (Conor) McDermott’s. So, I’m not at all surprised or discouraged. He’s going to heal, he’ll be back, and he’ll be fine.

Are you still think he’ll be back this season?

Hopefully, yeah, I’m still hopeful.

How do you balance that with only five games left? When does it become too late than it’s worth getting him out there on the field? 

No, I don’t think it’s ever too late. I think he’s got a desire to play for his teammates, play for his family and all that. So, whether it’s one game, two games, I don’t think it really matters to him, he just wants to get back on the field.

Where would he play if he came back?

I’ll speculate on that one later.

With Mekhi though, is there a point where you have to say like, “Okay, if he’s not back by here, we’re just going to shut it down?”

No, I’m not ready to even think about that one yet