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Phoenix – On Sunday at the NFL Owners’ Meeting, Aaron Glenn announced that Geno Smith will be the team’s starting QB.
“No doubt about it,” Glenn said. “He’s our guy.”
He said this on the league’s in-house TV Network.
So for the second year in a row, the Jets named a journeyman their starting QB, in March, at the NFL Owners’ Meeting.
They did the same last year in Palm Beach, naming Justin Fields the starter, with no competition.
While anointing starters is never ideal in sports where pure competition is an important tenet of a strong culture, theoretically, you could make a strong argument that this anointing makes a little more sense than last year’s.
While Smith isn’t Tom Brady, he’s clearly a better QB than Justin Fields. Some aren’t even sure Fields is a quarterback.
“I don’t think he’s a quarterback that can run, he’s a running back that can throw,” New England Patriots Radio Analyst Scott Zolak said about Fields last season.
Fields should not have been anointed the starter last March with Tyrod Taylor in the building. He was 14-30 as a starter his first four years in the league. There should have been a competition.
Once again, I’m not a believer in anointing oil in the spring. However, what Smith did in Seattle during his three years as a starter from 2022-24, going 9-8, 8-7, and 10-7, is something the Jets would sign up for. The Jets have not had a winning season since 2016.
It’s probably fair to give Smith a little bit of a pass for his 2-13 season last year in Las Vegas. The team was a train wreck – bad roster, terrible offensive line, and so forth. Mark Davis fired the OC, Chip Kelly, midseason. Dumpster fire in the desert last year.
If the Jets’ offensive line continues its strong play from the second half of last year, with a new left guard, Dylan Parham, and the Jets protect Smith well, and run the ball on a high level to set up play-action, Smith can be a serviceable QB for them.
And just as important, their defense should be a lot better this year, which should help the Jets keep the scores down. Whatever you think of QBs like Fields, Taylor, or Cooks, in too many games, the Jets’ defense was a horror show, creating big deficits for an offense ill-equipped to dig the team out of large holes.
I’m not saying the Jets’ defense is going to be the ’85 Bears, but they should be better than last year, spearheaded by a much stronger defensive line and a better defensive line rotation. Obviously, their pass rush must improve, but just as important, they must stop the run better, and I’d be shocked if their run defense isn’t much better this year with T’Vondre Sweat and David Onymata starting at defensive tackle.
So if they protect Smith, run the ball, and play better defense, he should do a solid job for them at QB, especially with Frank Reich now calling the offensive plays.
So while the anointing oil needs to be put away, making Smith the starter in March is much less egregious than doing the same with Fields a year ago.
March 30, 2026
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