Well, how are you doing?
New York Jets offensive tackle Olu Fashanu arrived on Wednesday, July 29, for the first day of training camp practice. He immediately caused a stir with his new look.
“First noticeable thing from the first team period of camp… Olu has gained a ton of muscle. Looks absolutely massive,” NFL analyst Will Parkinson posted.
He wasn’t the only one who noticed. Omari Brown of Jets X-Factor said, “Olu looks like he has added some muscle to his lower half. Stronger base for him to anchor.”
Longtime NFL offensive lineman, former Jet, and current ESPN NFL analyst Damien Woody said, “Olu lookin thicker than a pot of grits!”
I’m not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds like a good thing. The former Penn State product is listed at 6-foot-6 and weighs 312 pounds.
Huge Year for Fashanu
It can’t be understated how huge a year this is for Fashanu.
Fashanu, 23, will turn 24 during the 2026 season. After this year, he will be contract extension eligible. Depending on how this season goes could dramatically affect what his next contract looks like.
In two seasons, he has appeared in 34 games and has made 24 starts. That was highlighted by last season when he was a full-time starter for all 17 games.
Availability is a key ingredient, but the next step is improving his quality of play. According to Pro Football Focus, Fashanu finished outside the top 26 offensive tackles in every major category:
- Overall grade: 69.2 (39th among 89 qualifying tackles)
- Run block grade: 57.1 (65th among 89 qualifying tackles)
- Pass block grade: 74.5 (27th among 89 qualifying tackles)
Fashanu said he made little tweaks to his game in pass protection and run blocking this offseason, “Just being more consistent. Just being the type of guy to give my teammates and the coordinators confidence to just leave me on an island. Not have to worry about me whatsoever. Just being more dominant.”
A Different Vibe on 1 Jets Drive
Head coach Aaron Glenn has a different aura for this year’s training camp than he had last year.
“Obviously, coming back to training camp is always exciting. Coaches are excited, players are excited, the organization is excited. And what we want to do, we just want to build off the momentum that we actually had in OTAs going into training camp. So, no slogans, no hype speeches. (We) wanted to set the tone with the players yesterday and, man, we’re ready to improve, and that’s what we’re trying to do,” Glenn told the media on Wednesday, July 29.
Over the years, coaches have tried to put catchy phrases on shirts in hopes of that being a guiding light for the team. All Gas, No Brake. Grit. Play Like A Jet. Those days are over.
Now, this change from Glenn doesn’t guarantee that he will be a better coach or immediately start winning; that will be decided on the field.
“Yeah, and listen, I’m not trying to be a butthole when I give you this answer, but a lot of that I really want to keep to myself. I don’t think it’s fair to myself or the team to be able to articulate all those things to everybody and give everybody all the answers to, which I think is the test for me to improve,” Glenn responded when asked what some of his blind spots were in year No. 1.
The proof will be in the pudding when the regular season beings if Glenn has really learned from last year.
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