I've seen what it looks like when a QB clearly beats out another QB and the 2013 Jets QB competition doesn't qualify. Go watch the Seahawks QB competition to see how a QB looks like when he's clearly beating out the other QB.
Agreed, people make it seem like Sanchez dominated the competition. He was the better choice to start the season last year because he's obviously more polished with Geno. But, like usual, he didn't look very impressive at all.
That's why he has an agent. Right now preliminary negotiating positions are being taken all over the league. Time will tell.
He would be a starter with the Jets if he was signed and allowed to earn the job. I am concerned it sounds like from the Manish article, if true, that the FO is invested in Smith, probably to support Idzik's decision to pick him last year. Imo we saw far less than we should have to support that decision. It follows that if Idzik in fact is going to let politics and appearances govern roster decisions, that will be a drag on his ability to produce a winner, to say the least. In short I hope the article is bad information.
Yes, I am mystified by it, too. I understand the pov that preparing Smith in camp and giving him some better receivers might not be a bad approach in a year that the Jets may not be projected to do much. And I would agree to holding a certain skepticism about next year, with imo the 8-8 record from last year hardly a floor going forward. But neither can or should we write off the prospects for a playoff run in 14. If some key things fall into place, the Jets, with but only with competent play at Qb, could well be a playoff team this coming season. If Milliner and Winter upgrade their games, Howard is brought back and some competent solution is plugged in at RG, a solid safety is added, and the Jets get some better receivers, Ivory stays healthy, and the DL plays at least as well as last year, it would seem to me that only another year of bottom third play from the Qb would take the Jets out of playoff contention. I simply did not see anything from Smith last year that would indicate it likely that he will be an even mid tier Qb in 14. Nor are teh Jets so invested in him that they should feel compelled to just hand the starting job to him this off season. That seems pretty obvious to me, so if they do that, I for one will have difficulty understanding such an approach.
As I constantly maintain, I think the best approach is the long term approach. What would be better, A) starting a veteran QB next year in order to try to make the playoffs who more than likely will only be with the team for a year or two, or B) in a year where there will be lower expectations, trying to develop Geno so that going forward in 2015 and beyond they will have their answer at QB and a consistent, experienced offense? IMO the two are mutually exclusive. If they go with option A, even if they do make the playoffs, they probably won't go far, and then they'd be right back at the point where they are now, not really knowing if Geno is the answer. I'd much rather they miss the playoffs in 2014, then potentially make the playoffs every year following that for the next 5-8 years, but if not, know they need to go elsewhere at QB and start looking for their future starter, than make the playoffs in 2014, then miss them in 2015, and maybe have to start over at that point.
we could do worse than Schaub, we'd be downgrading releasing Mark for Schaub but we will need a vet backup. Schaub can be a decent backup.
I believe some posters are being short sighted. We are a rebuilding team. Let me repeat that we are a rebuilding team. Some posters like the idea of rebuilding but then when they see it they don't like it. Rebuilding isn't supposed to be pretty. Rebuilding is about developing young talent and giving not as good as the vet more reps for the purpose of seeing what you have in the young guy and developing him. Schaub is better than Geno and that's a fact. But I'd rather see what we have in Geno so we know one way or the other what we have in him. If Schaub is willing to come in as strictly a backup then I'd be thrilled. If he wants to start then the Jets aren't the team for him. Geno needs all the reps he can get. A competition is detrimental to his growth and development.
this isn't the old days, teams don't rebuild for 5 years. we have been rebuilding, we have a ton of young talent, we have a ton of cap room, we have a ton of picks. if we do a good job w/ the draft and FA we should be a playoff team this year.
I'm not saying we have to rebuild for 5 years. We came off a 2013 season that was supposed to be a rebuilding year. We overachieved and won 8 games. But that doesn't mean that we have to steer away from the objective. We need to develop talent that will be apart of a potential SB contender.
we will continue to rebuild and try to win, the job will not be done this offseason but a huge part of our future is tied to this offseason.
That's true we could be a playoff team depending on our offseason acquisitions and if some of the young players continue to progress.
As important as the Qb position is, it is not the only concern when you are considering putting together a roster capable of doing damage in the playoffs. Burning a year pretty much to see IF the Jets can develop Smith has a cost to it more than just writing off the 14 season. Core players like Mangold, Ferguson, Harris and other vets get a year older each year, and in two years all three of those guys could be over the hill. Yes there is a core of younger players, but once Mangold and Ferguson are used up, you will have to rebuild the OL. I could see risking that if I thought the odds were better than they are that Smith will develop. I also don't see how you can say the Jets with competent Qb play this coming season would be less likely to go far in the playoffs than they would be with Smith in place in 15. That is pure guesswork on your part.
Stick with Geno. If we end up getting a decent WR prospect like Kelvin Benjamin or Jordan Mathews then look hard in the 4/5 round for a smart QB. The WR's first, then OL and finally a DL who knows how to jump and deflect passes. My best wepon for the DL.
Handing the QB spot to someone who hasn't earned a stranglehold on the position is hardly what I'd call solid fundamentals in team building. I mean isn't that what we did with Sanchez? Geno should have to earn that spot. If he can't be out Schaub he isn't ready to start. There are plenty of documented cases where QB's sit and watch a veteran for some time prior to earning the starting spot and having success.
No, QB isn't the only concern, but since QB is THE most important position on the football team, and the Jets haven't had a quality starter in eons, it is critical for the Jets moving forward and for Idzik if he hopes to keep his job for long. With most teams, their play goes as the QB's does. I believe that finding out whether Geno is their QB moving forward should be their #1 priority in 2014. You don't win SBs with centers or even LTs, so I'm really not that concerned with Mangold and Brick, nor do I think the Jets should be. Finding out whether Geno will be their QB isn't just "burning" a year. They also will be incorporating and developing a LOT of new young players. IMO, to think that they could go anywhere at all in the playoffs with a FA vet QB is not realistic. IMO their only shot for making any noise at all is if Geno develops and plays at a high level. Like many other Jets fans, I also think you aren't being realistic at all regarding Geno. I think your assessment of him is overly critical and negative. My opinion is not pure guesswork. It's based on 50+ seasons of watching the NFL. In your years of watching the NFL, how many teams have brought in a FA QB of the level the Jets will be able to bring in, had a likely 40-50% roster turnover and likely a number of rookies starting, and then made serious noise in the playoffs? I'm sure there probably have been some, but I can't think of a single one at the moment. In addition, if Geno develops this season, along with the other young players, then their offense should be a lot better and more consistent. Guesswork has nothing to do with it. It's called logic, football knowledge and common sense.
Bingo right there on the FA crop of QB's. There's no Peyton Manning out there. All the QB's, including McCown, are mid-tier guys who are backups/journeymen at best and should be brought in to either push Smith or take the job through solid competition in camp. Personally, if close, I draft one of the top QB's this year...but that's just me. Being realistic, I bring in the best available FA QB that is a SMART decision to compete and let the chips fall where they may. It will be moot unless we bring in/draft one top TE and 2 WR's.
First of all I take offense at your implicit suggestion that because I disagree with "many other Jet fans" about Smith's performance last year, that I am overly critical or negative about him. Sure he has developed a following of homers, no doubt some of whom are understandably in his camp because they want to put the Sanchez era completely behind us. Others are overly optimistic, so much so that they (like you) make wild predictions that the Jets WILL BE a better playoff team in 15 with Smith than they could be this year with any vet Qb. My entitlement to post my opinions about what to do with the roster this off season should have nothing to do with how many Jet fan homers disagree with me, so there's that. As for your question about FA signings, it is loaded by your caveat "Qb of the level the Jets will be able to bring in..." Since we don't know what they might, let alone will, at this point, we can't even get to the central part of your argument. Suffice to say there have been a number of teams in fact that signed Qb's in FA and went to the playoffs the next year. OF COURSE most successful teams, who are more likely to repeat the next year than the weak sisters of the league, find a way to hold onto their successful Qb. The Jets are not one of those teams, and have not had a successful Qb for a long time, really since Favre, and that was only for one year, and he got hurt. In other words your question does not take into account that the Jets are mediocre and need to improve. You also misread my previous post if you think I was saying that the Qb is not any more important than C or RT. Of course it is. But at some point the Qb is not more important than the collective impact of some nunber of other players. Your scenario could be one where Smith shows no improvement, certain core players on the team get older, and the Jets have made absolutely no progress finding a good Qb. You implicitly assume that having another and possibly better Qb on the roster is a problem for Smith. In my opinion if the Jets do not get someone like that, Smith is no more likely to improve than if they do. He will feel when he is not entitled to that he has already earned the starting job, without having done so. We don't know whether he will feel the lack of competition a certain way, but it well might not be helpful to his development. As others have pointed out, there are plenty of young Qb's who have benefitted from sitting and watching a better vet play. Certainly we as fans do when that happens, too. Finally there is a subtle way that you are ignoring the distinction between where we are right now and where the team could be on Opening Day. By Opening Day we will know quite a bit more than we do now about whether Smith in fact will take this off season to improve. What if having gone through camp the Jets see that he has shown no improvement? What if Simms outplays him? What if he gets hurt? Do you really want to say given those possibilities that the Jets should do nothing to even try to upgrade Qb in FA?
