Recently, New York Jets Head Coach has described the improvement of Geno Smith as “light years ahead of where he was last year”. As OTA’s turn to Mini Camp and as Mini Camp will soon become Training Camp, The Jets QB circus is in full effect. Currently on the roster, there is Geno Smith entering his 4th season, 2nd year QB Bryce Petty who hasn’t played in the regular season in his career, and 2nd round draft pick Christian Hackenberg, who while an intriguing prospect, has a number of accuracy concerns and more then likely, won’t see action this season. It is a popular opinion amongst fans that Ryan Fitzpatrick will be back, but as we approach training camp it’s becoming the harsh reality that will more then likely not be the case.
While it’s possible the Jets add a veteran QB, I believe the three listed above will be the three come September. For a moment, think back to this time last year. The New York Jets had acquired Fitzpatrick for a low round draft pick, but all the talk was about how great Geno Smith was doing in camp and practice. He was bonding well with newly added wide receiver Brandon Marshall, even living with him. And Jets fans were confident that with these weapons and Chan Gailey’s offensive scheme that has made average qb’s look like super stars, there was an aura of confidence that Geno Smith would take this team far… and then his jaw got broken by IK Enemkapli.
With the success of Fitzpatrick last season, many felt this incident was actually a positive for the team overall. And while the Jets went 10-6 last season, they still missed the playoffs. However, while Fitz started every game last season, Geno Smith got a year to learn the offense, watch a veteran QB for once in his career (remember when he came in his competition was Mark Sanchez) and take some time to be humbled. I think maybe just maybe, Geno Smith might actually be ready to start for the New York Jets.
As the opening said, he’s been described as light years ahead of where he was last season, and it’s like night and day. It’s up to Geno to define these terms and what it means. For right now he should take every advantage that goes with the business issues behind resigning Ryan Fitzpatrick because it is truly his job to run away with. And if his maturity has caught up to his physical skill set, it may just be possible that the Jets are in good hands.