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The New York Jets made a potentially huge addition to their offensive line on Thursday, signing center Ryan Kalil.
Kalil, who had spent the first 12 years of his career with the Carolina Panthers, is a five-time Pro Bowler and two-time First-Team All-Pro, but injuries have derailed him over the last few years. He played just 14 games between 2016 and 2017, and even though he played a full 16-game campaign this past season, he would go on to announce his retirement.
But, Kalil has decided to lace his cleats back up in order to join the Jets, and if he plays anything like he did during his prime, he could obviously provide a huge lift to the offense.
Still, while Kalil is expected to start Week 1 of the regular season for New York, he is definitely behind, as Gang Green has already gone through a number of offseason workouts.
That's why quarterback Sam Darnold says it will be key getting Kalil up to speed over the next month:
“Yeah, I think, again, from what people have said to me, he’s a great dude and I don’t think there’s going to be any issue there getting along but again, I think communication as far as protections, run game, all that stuff, as much as we can communicate, especially with our offense, with the offense that we want to create and the offense that we want to have, communication is key,” Darnold said, per Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk. “The more that we do that throughout this process, which is short, the short process to get ready for the season, the better off we’ll be.”
Kalil marks the second big addition the Jets have made along their offensive line this offseason, as they also swung a trade with the Oakland Raiders to acquire Kelechi Osemele a few months ago.
