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Who done it and why?
I’m talking about the Jets addition of Falk – Luke Falk that is, not Peter . . .
It did seem odd since the Jets already had four quarterbacks on the roster, but it also made sense.
The Jets claimed QB Luke Falk on waivers on Thursday. This makes perfect sense. He was with the Dolphins last year and knows Gase’s offensive system. Doesn’t it make sense to have somebody in the QB room who is well-versed in Gase’s playbook, and isn’t starting from ground zero like the other four guys? Of course it does.
Falk was a sixth-round pick of the Tennessee Titans in 2018 draft, but was released on the final cut down of training camp. Some teams cut draft picks after their first training camp. It’s okay to do that.
The Dolphins claimed him on waivers, so clearly Gase was very high on the guy coming out of Washington State. Gase had final say over player personnel decisions in Miami, so he clearly pushed for the Dolphins to claim Falk.
Falk ended up hurting his wrist and landing on injured reserve on October 5, 2019. But while he only practiced with the Dolphins for a month last year, he was still in all the QB meetings last year, so he’s well-versed on Gase’s playbook. This will be in helpful in Jets QB meetings. True, Gase, and Jets offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains have been teaching Sam Darnold, Trevor Siemian, Davis Webb and Brandon Silvers the Jets’ new system in the off-season program, but it hasn’t been going on that long. Falk was entrenched in the system longer than the Jets current four quarterbacks.
This is what Gase had to say about Falk last year in Miami:
“He was doing well for us. The amount of reps that he’s acquired…working on a lot of our schemes, working on some of the under the center stuff. His footwork is really good for somebody that hasn’t really done it before. I like his anticipation. When I watch him throw, I really like how the ball comes out of his hand. He’s a very confident kid. He’s smart. He’s been a fun guy to be around.”
Remember, Falk was one of those college spread offense quarterbacks coming out of Mike Leach’s system at Washington State, so he had to learn how to play under center.
It’s unclear if the Jets released a QB after claiming Falk, even though that would be pretty unfair since the Jets haven’t really had any real football practices so far this spring, so releasing anybody behind Darnold now would be purely a political move, not based on merit. So far they have not released a QB.
The Jets claiming of Falk does show that Mike Maccagnan is listening to Gase when it comes to some personnel decisions. There were some reports recently they were butting heads over personnel decisions.
One of those decisions according to draftanalyst.com was over whether to sign free agent center Matt Paradis, whose turned into a legend in the Jets nation, and the most significant “non-signing” in a long time. The man who owns the agency that represents Paradis is a social media guru.
But bringing in Falk makes sense.
The coach likes him.
You never know if the starter will get hurt (he did last year).
And you don’t even know if the current starter is a true franchise QB. He has the potential to be, but hasn’t gotten there yet. I’m not the anointing type.
May 3, 2019
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