Jets to work out veteran QB Mark Brunell on Wednesday » By Manish Mehta The Daily News has learned that unrestricted free agent Mark Brunell will work out for the Jets in Florham Park on Wednesday. The 39-year-old quarterback visited the team’s training facility in April. The Jets believe the 17-year veteran can be a mentor for Mark Sanchez. The Daily News conducted a poll this offseason of more than a dozen starters that revealed that the overwhelming majority favored Kellen Clemens over Brunell as the backup to Sanchez in 2010. "Brunell? Isn't he like 50 years old?" said one player of the three-time Pro Bowl quarterback earlier this summer. Brunell, who will turn 40 in September, has just one start and 30 pass attempts in the past three seasons. He has one more start (10) than Clemens (9) in the past four years. "I didn't even know Brunell was still in the league until we played them last year," said another Jets player of the long-time Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback. Brunell, who was the Saints’ backup last year, filed for bankruptcy this summer and is a reported $24.7 million in debt after failed real estate ventures. The Jets appear to have been enamored with Brunell for a while. “He’s really a class act,” Rex Ryan said of Brunell in May. “He wants to go into coaching when he’s done playing. I think that’s a good thing. If he came here, it’s not like he’s coming here to be our starting quarterback. We were interested in him. I think he would have been a good mentor to our guys.” The Jets, of course, couldn’t sign Brunell until the “Final Eight” rule was lifted last week. Clemens’ fate is still unknown. “He’s handled himself like a pro,” one player said of Clemens earlier this summer. “I think we can win with him in there. We don’t need Brunell.” Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/jets/#ixzz0uwZQG5d1
and why cant we just sign him as the number 3 guy and keep clemens and just get rid of ainge and oconnel. that way we can keep the team happy and still have him as a backup/coach/mentor for sanchez and hell even clemens
Hmmm...Im not really a big fan of this. Supposedly, our QB coach is the "veteran presence" for Mark. Im fine with that. Clemens, I guess, has not secured a spot at the No. 1 or 2 position in 4 years. Ok, send him on his way. Ainge has been here several years and knows our system. Oconnel has not been here as long and have not seen much of him to make a decision on him. I wasnt happy with a wasted roster spot last year at QB, and now this year, they want to bring in a guy who is ready to retire and knows nothing of our system? If they let Brunell and Ainge battle it out for the #2 and 3 spot and send the other 2 packing, fine. Its just tough to believe out of the 3 guys we have for backups, none of them can be our #2 guy?
If the FO brings Brunell on board its gonzo for Clemens. Then our #3 will come down to Ainge and O'Connell to give us some semblance of a future backup. For the record, here are some other promising young QBs and their backups: South Florida/North Cuba - Henne/Pennington/Tyler Thigpen B'more - Flacco/Marc Bulger/Troy Smith Hotlanta - Ryan/Chris Redman Detroit Motor City - Stafford/Shaun Hill/Drew Stanton T-Bay - Freeman/Josh Johnson The Lou - Bradford/AJ Feely Philly - Kolb/Vick Of those I would say only Philly, Hotlanta, Miami, and B'more are realistic playoff contenders. All of those teams have veteran backups who have been regular starters in the league except Hotlanta (Redman has just 12 starts in 7 seasons and has never been the guy). Not that I'm a big fan of Brunell or the possibility of signing him, however, he's no worse than Clemens at this stage of his career but he was at one time a good starter. He would give us another QB coach for Dirty Sanchez and that's a good thing.
I don't see how anyone can be against this move...especially if Kellen Clemens stays on the roster. Brunell will never have to play. He'll be a mentor in practices, film breakdowns, and team meetings. Signing a veteran quarterback that's had success in this league with a similar skillset to Mark Sanchez is a hell of a move for the future of this franchise. Having him on the roster will be big for Sanchez's development.
Never thought id say it... but i actually want clemens to stay on the team. If brunell is supposed to be a mentor for the dirty one then why dont we sign him as a coach?
Lol i feel the same way. Im just not sold on the idea that brunell can come in and learn the playbook. Clemens has been in the system for the past four years so at least he can come in and manage a game (like the tampa game last year) and let the defense win the game for us.
Even if Mark Brunell had no arms and legs, he'd still be a better game manager than any of our current backups.
+1 I think Brunell can pick up the playbook easy enough. It'll be the Tampa game playbook. Hand off, hand off, wait for the David Harris pick six, hand off, hand off, hand off.
I would love having Brunell as our #2. Time to get rid of Clemens. And I could care less about how he knows the system. Knowing it and actually running it are 2 different things, and he's proven he cannot run it. And at least he'll make a good mentor for Marky Mark.
One things for sure, we don't need 4 QBs on the roster again. I think between O'Connell, Ainge, and Clemens, 2 of the 3 are gone.
Sounds insane but I think the Phins would be in the best position should Henne go down, Pennington has won and won with Miami and I have been a fan of Thigpen and felt like he got a raw deal in KC.
