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Geno Smith to the Jets in first round is not a good idea. A columnist said they need him. I don’t agree. He might not even be a first round pick.
“So maybe the next time the Jets take a quarterback in the first round of the draft, they will have to convince themselves the guy is a sure-thing, surefire mortal lock,” Mike Lupica wrote for his Sunday sports/political columnist. “That is probably why the most exciting quarterback in this upcoming draft — Geno Smith of West Virginia — will end up being drafted by Buffalo or Arizona before the Jets would even have to consider taking him at No. 9.
So the Jets will probably go for another pass rusher or a wide receiver. And if you are a Jets fan, that means you go into next season without a single offensive player you want to watch.
“The Jets have no comparable attraction, have found out their coach can only be the big-top attraction for so long. They probably aren’t thinking about a kid such as Geno Smith, because they are scared to get burned again if they turn out to be dead wrong about a first-round quarterback. But they ought to be thinking about Smith. Is he a sure thing? Of course he’s not. Neither was Russell Wilson.
“I know this: On one Saturday afternoon against Baylor, Smith was more exciting than the entire unwatchable Jets season, throwing for 656 yards against Baylor, 45-for-51, eight touchdown passes, no interceptions, 12.9 yards per attempt. That’s a month for Mark Sanchez, just with a ton fewer interceptions.”
I’m telling you, this is a really bad idea.
I think Nolan Nawrocki of Pro Football Weekly is the best draft analyst in the business. He knows a lot more about Smith than Lupica.
“He has average pocket awareness,” said Nawrocki. “He holds the ball too long and takes sacks. His production was inflated by a gimmick offense. He is skinny with a linear build.
“He has small hands and ball security issues. He is an enigmatic, erratic, shotgun-only who pass who can look like a first-round pick on one play, and a clueless novice on the next, not recognizing disguised coverages or feeling pressure with consistency. He is an over-hyped product of the system who will always leave coaches wanting more.”
“Geno Smith holds the ball way too long,” an unnamed scout told Pro Football Weekly. “He doesn’t step up in the pocket and he takes a lot of sacks. I understand everyone is talking about him in the first round. It’s very rare you see any quarterback that is a first round pick take a safety during his college game – this guy had two in one game. I cannot get that out of my head. He’s not as advertised.”
Would I take him in the second or third round and develop him for two or three year? Sure. But he’s not a top 20 pick. He’s a major project. He needs a lot or work.
For Lupica to paint this picture that the Jets desperately need to get him at nine is ridiculous. Smith was wildly inconsistent at West Virginia.
March 3, 2013
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