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It sounds so outlandish that only the NFL’s best offensive line coach could get away with saying it.And only someone as starved for a fresh start as Mekhi Becton could believe it.Drawing on his experience of having Halapoulivaati Vaitai replace injured future Hall of Famer Jason Peters during a Super Bowl run in 2017, offensive line coach Jeff Stoutland told Becton before the season that he could be the reason that the Eagles’ blocking continued to thrive in the post-Jason Kelce era.“He was saying how [Vaitai] was the reason they won that Super Bowl,” Becton recalled after winning the NFC Championship game.“He pretty much told me at the beginning of the year that I’m going to be the reason why we get there.
So I told him on the field when I gave him a hug, ‘Let’s go finish.’ ”Saquon Barkley isn’t the only former New York football player whose career has reached new heights this season after signing as a free agent with the Eagles.Becton — the Jets’ 2020 first-round draft bust who was unsigned until late April — finally is fulfilling his promise under the kingmaker Stoutland.The behind-the-scenes questions that the Jets had about his commitment to conditioning when they tried to take away his starting job now are ancient history.“It’s pretty funny to me that I’m where I’m at,” Becton said, “and they’re where they’re at.”The Jets are coming off a 5-12 season that resulted in the firings of general manager Joe Douglas — who drafted Becton over two-time first-team All-Pro Tristan Wirfs — and head coach Robert Saleh.Successors Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn were introduced Monday, about 18 hours after the Eagles advanced to Super Bowl 2025.“I had a feeling I would be in this spot because I deserve to be in this spot,” Becton said.
“I worked too hard.I knew I wouldn’t stay with the Jets for my whole career.”It’s hard to blame the former regime for writing off Becton, who totaled one game over the 2021 and 202...