He added: “This was definitely the most interesting team I’ve ever been a part of. I felt like a sponge this year. I learned so much this year from the veterans in the room, we had a lot of guys who were seasoned in there. It was another year kind of figuring things out, how the league works, how the team works. I just took a lot out of it.”
With his health less of an issue at the beginning of this offseason, the burly Mitchell (6-6, 299) said he is motivated to compete even more after the devastation on the offensive line this past season that saw the Jets’ four starting quarterbacks playing behind an ever-changing unit.
“I didn’t take the stride I wanted to this past year, it was more of a consistency issue,” he said. “I think there’s another level out there that I can achieve. I look forward to going into Year 3 as a big steppingstone year. This year I wanted to improve my pass pro. There’s always some specifics there that I want to improve. But I just don’t want to have to leave a doubt if I’m going to start that I can maintain the role and be more of a consistent anchor.
“I don’t want to leave any doubt that I can start, or at least maintain my role, whatever role I’m put in. So, I definitely want to be in the conversation next season.”
What that conversation will sound like, and what the O-line will look like, will certainly be a huge topic of conversation as the free-agency period begins in mid-March, to be followed by the NFL Draft at the end of April. The view from January is that the Jets can pencil in only two players — C Joe Tippmann and G Alijah Vera-Tucker — in the five-man unit.
“I couldn’t be more excited,” Mitchell said. “Last year was such a weird way to end the year. This year coming off being healthy most of the year makes me excited to kind of do the things I want to do.”
He’s heading home to Louisiana before beginning his offseason training regimen in Texas, followed by a…
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