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In our free agency preview issue in February, we wrote on our defensive line page:
“A player who would be perfect for the Jets, who isn’t listed on this page because he didn’t play last year due to a knee injury suffered in
the playoffs, is 49ers DT Ronald Blair, who is a very good interior pass rusher.”
Well it happened today. The Jets signed Blair, and released defensive end Sharif Finch. As we mentioned last week. Finch didn’t practice last Thursday, and was in rehab area with injured players. Not sure what was wrong with him, and teams don’t need to announce injuries this time of year, but he clearly wasn’t healthy.
Blair could turn out to be a steal of biblical proportions for the Jets at this stage of free agency, if his knee is okay.
He tore his ACL in Week 10 of the 2019 season in a San Francisco loss to Seattle, and then had a setback at some point during this rehab, and was forced to sit out the entire 2020 season. Normally with an ACL tear that happens in November, you are ready to roll for the start of the next season, since it’s generally a 6-9 month recovery.
The 49ers released him in March, but were reportedly interested in re-signing him, but never got around to it, so the Jets jumped.
I saw one report calling him an edge-rusher. Not sure that’s what he is. While he’s listed at 6-4, he’s not. He’s 6-2 1/8, 284 pounds, and ran a 5.15 forty when he came out of college.
What he is, is a terrific football player, who you can play up and down the line at different positions.
He makes up for his lack of great size or speed with a tremendous motor and good technique. He also has very long arms (34 inches) and big hands (10 1/4 inches), which can be helpful on the defensive line.
He had a career high 5.5 sacks in 2018.
This signing comes at a good time for the Jets, with injuries to a pair of defensive tackles, Quinnen Williams (foot) and Foley Fatukasi (leg). It’s unclear how severe Fatukasi’s injury is, but it didn’t look good, when he had to leave practice after the first play of the team period in last Thursday’s OTA. Williams had foot surgery after suffering an injury working out this off-season, but is expected back for the start of the season. Also in the mix at defensive tackle is Sheldon Rankins, who was signed this off-season, and has a rough injury history, and was not at last Thursday’s OTA. So the addition of Blair is huge. They need another body up front.
With so many players out last Thursday, they were forced to start Nathan Shepherd, who might not be twitchy enough for the new defense. Doing research on Blair, all the articles out of San Francisco in 2017 referred to him as a defensive tackle.
If Blair can stay healthy, even if he doesn’t start, expect him to play a lot for the Jets this year in their defensive line rotation.
But don’t expect him to be the panacea for the Jets edge-rush. It’s hard to expect that from a 5.15 forty guy, but he’s a terrific football player, who with great character (unbelievable list of charitable work in his bio), who will make plays for you, whether it’s at end or inside. He’s a good chess piece to have with this position versatility.
And obviously he comes in knowing the Saleh/Jeff Ulbrich system.
June 1, 2021
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