Jets right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker out for the season with torn triceps

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Jets right guard Alijah Vera-Tucker’s season ended before it ever began.

Vera-Tucker suffered a torn triceps during Tuesday’s practice and will undergo surgery that will sideline him for all of 2025. Aaron Glenn said it will be about a seven-month rehab. The Jets open the season Sunday at MetLife Stadium against Pittsburgh.

“He was a big player for us,” Glenn said before practice Thursday. “But we got to continue to keep rolling.”

Losing Vera-Tucker is a huge blow for the Jets. He is such an important piece up front for what is expected to be a run-dominant offense this season. The Jets have made no secret that they plan to lean heavily on the run. Glenn said he and the coaching staff still were working through who will replace Vera-Tucker.

The most likely scenario is that the Jets will slide Joe Tippmann over from center to right guard and start Josh Myers at center. Tippmann and Myers had been competing for the starting center position. Tippmann had a better camp and preseason but has experience playing guard.

Myers was the Packers’ regular starting center the past three seasons. He also was Justin Fields’ center at Ohio State. Tippmann started four games at right guard because of injury during his rookie season in 2023 and played left guard this summer when John Simpson was out. Tippmann said he’s comfortable “jumping back and forth.”

“Whatever position they want me to play, I’m ready to play,” he said. “Whatever’s best for the team, I’m going to do.”

Not only is Vera-Tucker the Jets’ best offensive lineman, but they were counting on him being a stabilizing force on the right side and helping out rookie tackle Armand Membou as he learns the ropes. Membou will begin his NFL career lining up in front of dominant pass rusher T.J. Watt.

Vera-Tucker, a first-round pick in 2021, is in the final season of his rookie contract, and the injury puts his Jets future in question. Both sides had sounded amenable to working on an extension, but with Vera-Tucker’s durability a concern, that will be shelved now.

This is the third time in five NFL seasons that Vera-Tucker has suffered a season-ending injury. He tore a triceps in Denver in 2022, costing him 10 games. The following season, he ruptured an Achilles tendon, also in Denver. He missed the last 12 games.

“I know it’s gut-wrenching for him,” Tippmann said. “We’re all reaching out to him trying to do our best to keep him up.”

Garrett Wilson said, “Knowing that he’s not going to be able to be out there with us this season breaks my heart because he’s someone that goes about everything the right way . . . It definitely hurts, and it definitely doesn’t make our team better losing a guy like that.”

The left side of the line remains the same with second-year tackle Olu Fashanu and guard Simpson starting.

“It’s a tough deal,” offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand said. “That’s a good football player. It’s a really good football player. But we feel confident in the other guys, too.”

n  Injury report

Sauce Gardner (fibula) and Tyrod Taylor (knee) were full participants in practice after being considered limited Wednesday.