Not long before Corey Davis posted on Instagram that he was leaving the Jets and leaving the game at age 28, an older gentleman wearing No. 76 was working on his own and trying to turn back the clock one more time on a field adjacent to where Aaron Rodgers was orchestrating the offense.
Duane Brown and his surgically repaired shoulder were finally activated from the PUP list on Wednesday and he began ramping up in earnest for the Sept. 11 regular-season home opener against the Bills.
Brown turns 38 next Wednesday and there isn’t anyone happier that he is one of those guys they will have to rip the jersey off of than Rodgers. Because, with Garrett Wilson & Friends, the 39-year-old quarterback can survive the loss of Corey Davis, even if he is a class act beloved by all.
Duane Brown, his left tackle, is Aaron Rodgers’ Invaluable, Indispensible Jet.
Rodgers developed a bond and a trust with Packers LT David Bakhtiari over the course of a decade. Bakhtiari kept Rodgers from so many Hard Knocks that he was able to throw those accurate heat-seeking missiles to Davante Adams and to Jordy Nelson and to Randall Cobb, among others.
“That’s their blindside,” Cobb said, “and having someone that you know you can trust over there, it’s a big piece, it’s a big step, and I look forward to seeing him out there.”
So there was Duane Brown, on this sun-splashed summer day, running sprints, practicing his backpedal, exploding out of his stance, and it must have been like riding a bike for him.
“He’s gonna go through an acclimation period,” Robert Saleh said on Wednesday. “Hopefully we get him going [Thursday].”
Of course, when your left tackle is a week away from his 38th birthday, you hope and pray that he doesn’t hit that age-old wall and fall off that bike.
Saleh, asked if it is risky banking on a 38-year-old left tackle, said: “No. Not him. Seems like whatever they’re putting in water nowadays, football players are able to last a little bit longer somehow. … I needed that water when I was younger.”
Duane Brown has played 215 NFL games. He has started 215 NFL games. He is a five-time Pro Bowler, his fifth as recently as 2021 with the Seahawks. He was a Profile in Courage for the Jets in 2022.
“People won’t even get out of bed for the stuff he went through and he was playing NFL games,” Saleh said, “and he didn’t have to, because his money was already guaranteed. So, when you have guys who just love the game so much that they’re willing to just … the guy had torn rotator cuffs, and he still went out there and didn’t have to, and played damn near the whole season basically with one arm, and played pretty darn well. He’s been in this league forever. People got to see why, ’cause of the way he prepares, the way he loves the game, the way he fights through pain, he’s not affected by injury ’cause he’s gonna continue to find ways to get on the field. He’s a stud.”
He should serve as an example to everyone of his Jets teammates, no one more than Mekhi Becton, who was drafted to be the LT of the Future in 2020 and has played one game across the last two seasons. And is now the right tackle.
“A lot of times we look at the glamor of being All-Pro and the glamor of being Pro Bowl, but sometimes we forget to acknowledge what it took to get to that point,” Saleh said. “We celebrate the reward and the accomplishment, but we forget that the mountain that was climbed was significant. But to be able to see it with your own two eyes, I think is valuable to any young man coming into the league.”
Cobb, plagued by bone spurs the past two years, pondered retirement. He turned 33 on Tuesday.
“I have so much love for this game and I know that I can’t play ’til I’m 60,” Cobb said, “but as long as I feel like I can still do it, I want to come out and do it.”
Asked if he thinks Duane Brown can play until he is 60, Cobb laughed and said: “I mean, the way he’s adding these years up, he’s definitely done a great job over his career. Doing what he does in the position that he plays, being able to last as long as he’s had, it’s very special. He’s very fortunate that he’s been able to play for this long.”
Billy Turner or Max Mitchell will be the left tackle on Saturday night against the Giants. Turner was at LT and Mitchell at RT as LG Laken Tomlinson and RG Alijah Vera-Tucker returned to practice. Brown towards the end of practice stood behind Rodgers and the offense and observed.
“Leading a running back down the field, so the running back going for 10, he leads them all the way, big energy guy,” Quincy Williams said. “I call him an old head. Just like he’s an older guy. But he’s a leader on the team also. He actually helps the defense also with the keys and stuff like that, so that’s real big for us.”
If Rodgers and Saleh are lucky, perhaps Duane Brown can write an Andrew Whitworth story. Whitworth won Super Bowl 56 with the Rams as Matthew Stafford’s LT and retired at 40.
Rodgers’ sense of urgency has been growing as the time to field his best five offensive linemen is now.
“Be like the tree,” Whitworth said once. “Either you grow or you die.”
If anyone can turn the quarterback’s frown upside down, it will be the tree named Duane Brown.