Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey surprised some people last Wednesday when he anointed Geno Smith the team’s starting quarterback.
“Right now Geno’s the starter and to me, Coach Bowles has said it, I’ve said it, I think everybody has said it,” Gailey said.
Bowles position is a little more nuanced than that, based on what he said in March.
Here is what Bowles said on March 24, at an NFL meeting in Phoenix – “You can’t have even first team reps at quarterback – Geno will start out taking them, but that doesn’t mean Ryan (Fitzpatrick) can’t take his spot. But I’d be sitting here lying if I said they were going to have equal reps.”
So to Bowles, Smith being the starter now, and entering camp, is more of a reps thing than a commitment.
Gailey clearly doesn’t view it that way.
“(Geno has) done enough good, quality things (while) he’s been here and he’s done enough quality things that he deserves the opportunity to be the guy,” Gailey said.
Some would debate that premise.
So the QB competition semantics continue, even with a new regime.
But the bottom line is the Jets have missed the playoffs four years in a row, and it’s about time they get back there.
So whatever plan will get that done, at quarterback, and other key positions, that is what they need to go with.
That is the bottom line.
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