Scouting Jets offensive lineman Greg Senat

The Jets claimed signed offensive lineman Greg Senat near the end of the season, although he did not play and now is a pending free agent. Today we break him down in detail to try to assess if he’s worth bringing back.

The 27-year old Senat is listed at 6’6” and 305 pounds and was a sixth round pick out of Wagner in 2018. He spent time with five other NFL teams before joining the Jets, but has only played three offensive snaps in his career.

Background

Senat, whose family comes from Elmont, Long Island, had played two years as a tight end on the JV team but actually went to Wagner on a basketball scholarship.

He decided to join Wagner’s football team in 2016 and he started 22 games at right tackle over the next two years.

Senat wasn’t widely expected to be drafted but he got invited to the East West Shrine Game where he was one of the standout performers. This led to Baltimore drafting him in the sixth round.

Having spent his rookie year on injured reserve, Senat was released early on in his second season and was claimed by the Chiefs. He was a healthy scratch every week in Kansas City and then ended up back on injured reserve in November.

In 2020, he was released in final cuts by the Chiefs and then spent time on the Browns’ practice squad before finally being poached by Dallas and making his NFL debut.

Senat saw action in 10 games with Dallas, although he ended up playing just three offensive snaps.

In 2021, Senat re-signed with the Browns in March but they placed him on injured reserve in preseason. He would later spend time with the Colts without getting any game action and then was claimed by the Jets with a couple of weeks to go in the season.

His contract expired at the end of the season so he is a pending unrestricted free agent heading into the 2022 league year.

Now let’s take a look at what Senat brings to the table, divided into categories.

Measurables/Athleticism

Senat has excellent length but he lacked bulk when he entered the league and its unclear whether he’s added any because he’s still listed at just 305. He only managed 19 bench press reps at the combine.

As a former basketball player, he moves well and posted a good broad jump and three-cone drill at the combine but his 40-yard dash time, vertical and short shuttle were below average. He did improve his 40 time to a more respectable 5.29 at his pro day though.

Usage

As noted, Senat played tight end in high school and right tackle in college. His three regular season snaps were all as a jumbo package tight end but he has played both tackle positions in preseason.

Pass Blocking

To his credit, Senat so far hasn’t given up any sacks in over 330 offensive snaps at the NFL level.

There were concerns about his rawness as he entered the NFL but he does a decent job of getting back into his stance and using his length to buy himself time.

Although his rate of pressure allowed is good, it needs to be noted that he’s played exclusively against backups and has been badly beaten at times.

Run Blocking

Senat has been an effective run blocker in preseason action - although, again, this is only against backups. He shows an ability to get a drive going as he takes his man down on this play.

On this play, he showcases an ability to stay on his man and carve out a lane while moving laterally.

At times Senat was required to try and make a reach block and had mixed results as he struggled to beat his man to the spot and slow him up.

He definitely has the ability to get out to the second level but can struggle to locate and angle off his man in space.

Short Yardage

Senat’s teams seemed to have pretty good success running behind him in short yardage situations, including on one play where they converted on 4th-and-1 to ice a preseason win.

On this play he does a good job of walling off his man to create room for the 3rd-and-short conversion.

Screen Blocking

As noted, Senat has the athletic ability to get out into space but perhaps lacks consistency in terms of locking onto a target. In preseason action, the best screens his teams ran tended to be those where he stayed in to pass protect and the guys on the other side leaked out.

Footwork/Technique

As noted, Senat was considered pretty raw as he entered the league. In pass protection there was concern over his ability to anchor, his hand strength and the accuracy of his strikes and hand placement as well as his tendency to lunge after speed rushers who showed bend off the edge.

Here’s an example of a play where his hands got slapped away, leading to his man beating him for a pressure.

Senat also had a tendency to lunge after blocks in space or let his man fall off his block at the end of a play.

As noted, he uses his length well and this seems to have helped him in terms of his ability to recover from an initial loss of leverage.

Penalties

Senat has had four penalties in preseason action, all of which were for holding. Two of these were in pass protection and the other two were when run blocking, including on this play.

None of the four were particularly blatant so he perhaps just needs to do a better job of avoiding holding on for a beat too long.

Special Teams

Senat’s only special teams contributions have been as a blocker on the placekicking unit. He hasn’t made any errors in this role.

Instincts/Intelligence

Senat’s coach at Wagner described him as “extremely intelligent” and he participated on the student-athlete leadership forum in college.

On the field, he doesn’t seem to make many mental errors and shows an ability to pass off and pick up stunts. However, when he’s the spare man, his awareness of where the pressure is coming from can sometimes be lacking.

Attitude

Senat has worked hard and showed good competitiveness at the NFL level as he battles to earn a role.

Early on in his college career, Senat was completely overmatched against Boston College’s Harold Landry and got badly beaten several times. However, coaches were said to be really impressed with how he kept battling and put some good plays on film. Senat was told that if he kept working, he could have an NFL future and seems to have gained confidence from that.

Off the field, Senat has been involved in doing plenty of charitable work for Hope for Haiti.

In his rookie year, he was disciplined by the Ravens after posting a picture of his injured foot on social media but that was more of a learning experience than anything that would cause attitude concerns.

Injuries

Senat’s progress has definitely been hurt by injuries as he’s been on injured reserve three times in four seasons.

In his rookie season, Senat had a turf toe injury that required surgery after camp. He had a knee injury in preseason in 2021, but was healthy again by October. The nature of his 2019 injury was undisclosed.

Scheme Fit

The Jets need their linemen to be athletic for this system and Senat shows good athletic traits although his workout numbers weren’t as good across the board as some of the other Jets’ additions. Interestingly, in the run-up to the 2018 draft, Bleacher Report’s Matt Miller compared Senat to Laurent Duvernay-Tardif who was also with the Jets last year, albeit as a guard.

Over the course of his career so far, he has been teammates with current Jets CJ Mosley, Isaiah Williams, Bradlee Anae, Jovante Moffatt and Tarik Black.

Conclusions

There are only three real reasons to make a late season signing for a player who is out of contract at the end of the year. One is because you actually need the player to contribute in those last few games, another is because you want to improve your compensatory pick position when that player is signed in the following offseason and the final reason is because you want to give yourselves a chance to bring the player back.

Since the Jets didn’t use Senat and figure to be buyers in the free agent market, the first two reasons don’t really apply here. Presumably, therefore, they wanted a look at Senat and the inside track to be able to bring him back in 2022.

That doesn’t mean they will do that, though. The Jets made a similar move last year for defensive lineman Trevon Coley and opted to let him walk. It will depend on how impressed they were with what they’ve seen from Senat to date, but the Jets could sign him and bring him into camp to compete.

He does seem to have some untapped potential, so it will be interesting to see if the Jets give him another shot to show what he can do in preseason. If they do, he needs to prove he can stay healthy.