The Jets offensive line hasn't been an exclusive NFL hot spot for a while, but the OL fit that description last year as the same five men shut out all replacements with 17 starts together and hogged 99.2% of available offensive snaps among themselves.

But something had to give, and this week it did as LG John Simpson, the Jets left guard for the past two seasons with 34 starts and more than 2,000 offensive snaps on his dance card, re-signed with his former team, the Ravens.

Enter left guard Dylan Parham.

"I just felt like it was a great opportunity," said Parham, who muscled his way past the OL Club bouncer to sign a contract with the Jets and get through the door for an opportunity to join LT Olu Fashanu, C Josh Myers, RG Joe Tippmann and RT Armand Membou in the 2026 starting lineup. "What place is the best fit? What gives me the opportunity to have the best success for me and my family? And this place ended up popping up."

Parham also stressed his faith in helping guide him — "One of the biggest things was keeping God in this moment." And he also knows several Jets, among them Simpson, and said of his career move: "I want to come in and do the exact same things."

That's within his mindset and his skillset. Jets fans and Easterners may not be familiar with Parham's work, but he was a Simpson times two in Las Vegas the past four years. Drafted in the third round out of Memphis, he played 64 games, starting 63 of them, at both guard spots, and logged 3,803 offensive snaps plus 233 more on special teams.— in other words, a 1,000-snaps-a-season kind of guy.

It's true that the Raiders, like the Jets, did not post a winning record from 2022-25, but two things need to be said for Parham. One, he's tough and he's versatile.

"I bring physicality, athleticism, great mindset," said the 6-3, 285-pounder of the traits the Jets will be getting. "The experience that I have, I've played a lot of interior positions, center and both guards. I'll just bring the knowledge I have for the game."

(Note on versatility: Parham also played center for a season at Memphis and even a blocking/receiving tight end at Georgia's Carrollton HS.)

The other is that the Raiders' record can't all be hung on guys like Parham and Geno Smith, who quarterbacked the Raiders last season. But now both are in green and white — Smith for the second time — Parham can speak to what the Jets are getting in the more mature 14th-year QB.

"G's a good dude, man," D said. "When he came in, we went to, I want to say, one of the [Golden Knights'] hockey games. Just seeing him there, seeing the gifts from last year, just the wisdom that he has, the way he spoke when he got in front of the team, how he commanded it — that's what I'm looking forward to."

Of course Parham will have to win the job this offseason and preseason, but if he does, he'll get to realize one more opportunity, to be a member of the Jets' OL Club ultimately under the leadership of HC Aaron Glenn.

"It's great to have a players' coach and then someone who played the game as well," Parham said of Glenn. "Then the mindset he has, the approach he has, it's going to be great to continue to learn about him, see the things he has. I saw last year a little bit of what he had to offer. So it's going to be great to be a part of it this year."