New York Jets: 3 Players to watch vs. Lions in Week 1

The New York Jets open up at Ford Field to take on the Detroit Lions to open the 2018 season, and it’s time to look at the key players in the matchup.

Let the 59th season in the history of the New York Jets commence, and it does so in Detroit as they take on the Lions. It’s been a long journey to the beginning of the 2018 regular season, and the fans are anxious for it to start. There’s a lot of buzz around this game — and for one obvious reason which we’ll get to later.

There are three key players for the New York Jets in this game. Kelvin Beachum, Nathan Shepherd, and of course, the man of the hour for this game, Sam Darnold. All of them will have to make an impact in some way for the Jets to come out on top.

Let’s start with the man protecting the blindside of the franchise quarterback.

3. Kelvin Beachum

Beachum will be tasked with the toughest task in the building — stop Ziggy Ansah from getting to Darnold. Ansah will stop at nothing to make the rookie uncomfortable. He’s the primary edge defender for the defense, and even though he won’t be lined up against Beachum all night, it’ll likely be Beachum’s job to stop him for a majority of the night.

Darnold does much better with a clean pocket rather than a muddy one, and that’s indicative of him being a rookie. So, it’ll be Beachum’s job to make sure Darnold doesn’t end up losing that edge. He has shown a calm, cool, and collected side, and Beachum needs to protect that in any way possible.