Robert Saleh reacts to Mekhi Becton’s knee injury, bemoans ‘dehumanization’ of athletes on social media after criticism

Abraham Smith

Jets tackle Mekhi Becton suffered a fractured kneecap that will likely sideline him for the season. As such, they are incredibly upset that they lost their starting gear for the year for a number of reasons.

Becton, who only played 48 snaps last year before suffering cartilage damage in his knee that required surgery, has been criticized for his conditioning in the past.

But Robert Saleh hasn’t had any negative coverage of Becton and his recent injury (or any other athlete, for that matter).

On Tuesday’s podium, Saleh delivered a strong message not only to Becton but to professional athletes in general.

He began the message by saying: “You’re worried about them all. These are young men. And I think sometimes with social media in this world we dehumanize these athletes in the worst way imaginable.”

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Saleh continued with Becton in particular.

Mekhi walked into this building and took every single hit you can get, from every possible direction. And he shows up, works his tail off, and grinds every single day. He shows up at camp and struggles to get back in shape. He’s got videos of him throwing up and people throwing shadows and he’s limping and he’s doing all these different things… And he’s doing everything and everyone wants to drop him like a wet rag. That’s not the case.

Saleh concluded by saying, “We love Mekhi. We appreciate everything he has done. His ride is not over yet. His story is not over yet.”

Overall, it’s a meaningful message from Saleh, especially at a time when almost every training camp photo is answered with comments about player size. In fact, Kelvin Benjamin and Eddie Lacy memes are still circulating when they showed up to boot camp overweight. But Saleh beamed in his comments about Becton following the unfortunate injury.

For his part, Becton took notice and echoed Saleh’s sentiments, replying, “I appreciate you more than you know, Coach!! I love you Coach!!! IT’S NOT OVER!!!”

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