The Jets will have yet another hole to fill on their offensive line.
They are cutting guard Laken Tomlinson, The Post confirmed, after two seasons with the team. The move will save the Jets roughly $8 million in cap space.
For a unit that struggled mightily last year, the Jets will now have three openings to fill on the offensive line.
Tomlinson signed a lucrative three-year, $40 million deal with the Jets ahead of the 2022 season and was expected to be a key cog and help stabilize the middle of their offensive line.
The Jets released guard Laken Tomlinson on Monday after spending two seasons in New York. Robert Sabo for NY Post But, though he’s an ironman and played every single game the past two years, Tomlinson, 32, struggled to justify his steep price.
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His $13.3 million AAV was 10th-most among all guards in the NFL.
Pro Football Focus gave Tomlinson a woeful 55.0 overall grade last year, which ranked 53rd among all guards.
He allowed seven sacks, 10 quarterback hits and 51 quarterback pressures, according to the outlet.
His run blocking was even worse, and he received a 49.6 run-block grade.
A first-round pick by the Lions (No. 28 overall) in 2015, Tomlinson spent two years in Detroit and five with the 49ers — where he had emerged as one of the league’s most dependable guards — before signing with the Jets.
Laken Tomlinson blocks during an NFL football game against the Kansas City Chiefs at MetLife Stadium on October 1, 2023. Getty Images Tackles Mekhi Becton and Duane Brown are both free agents and are not expected to be back with the Jets, and now cutting Tomlinson creates another void.
Joe Tippmann, a second-round pick last year, and stud Alijah Vera-Tucker are the only two offensive linemen currently penciled in as starters.
Tippmann will likely play center, where he was used most of last season, while Vera-Tucker could play at either guard or tackle — both positions he has played with the Jets.
Vera-Tucker tore his Achilles during the Jets’ Week 5 win over the Broncos, and he said in January that he wasn’t sure if he’d be ready for the start of next season.
So if Vera-Tucker is not ready to go Week 1, that would be four holes on the offensive line the Jets will have to fill.
Cutting Tomlinson represents a failure for general manager Joe Douglas, who vowed at his introductory press conference in 2019 that he would fix the offensive line.
Douglas’ biggest free-agent investment at the position is now being cut five years after that statement, and the Jets find themselves nearly at square one again to fill out and improve the unit.
