The New York Jets don’t have a lot of things going right at the moment. But here’s one spot on the roster that looks genuinely settled: right tackle.
Armand Membou, the team’s first-round pick in the 2025 draft out of Missouri, just wrapped up a rookie season that has at least one opposing NFL coordinator convinced he’s on a different level. ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler relayed the quote on social media. The coordinator’s take was pretty direct. “He can be the best run-blocker in the league. Just a big, long, powerful man.”
That’s not the kind of praise you hear thrown around casually about a 22-year-old who just finished his first 17-game season. But Membou’s numbers back up the hype.
Let’s go back to how he got here. At 6-foot-4 and 332 pounds, Membou was already a solid starter at Mizzou. But it was the NFL Scouting Combine that really put him on the map. He ran a 4.91-second 40-yard dash. He put up 31 reps on the bench press. His 34-inch vertical and 9-foot-7-inch broad jump gave him the top athleticism score among all offensive linemen in that draft class. That’s a rare combination of size and explosion.
Once he got to New York, he didn’t disappoint. Membou started all 17 games for Gang Green and earned a 72.7 grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranked 30th among all NFL offensive tackles. For context, that was six spots higher than the Jets’ other young tackle, Olu Fashanu, who was also a first-round pick in 2024. So the Jets might actually have both bookend spots locked up for a while. That’s not nothing.
The overall team situation is still messy. Another losing season. Quarterback questions. A roster that feels incomplete in a lot of places. But if you’re a Jets fan looking for a reason to stay interested, Membou is a good one. He’s big. He’s strong. He moves well. And at least one guy who has to game-plan against him thinks he’s going to be a problem for a long time.
That’s the kind of foundation piece you don’t overthink. You just keep him in the lineup and let him work.
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