Since a new brain trust took over the Jets in January, they have signed veteran journeyman quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick and now traded up in the fourth round to draft Bryce Petty, the third-rated prospect at the position.
At this point, saying Geno Smith should watch his back is about as useful as saying Smith should lace his cleats before practice. It’s so obvious, the Jets might as well buy space on the same billboards that fans used to demand then-general manager John Idzik be fired.
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Idzik’s gone, and his replacement, Mike Maccagnan, has moved to send a clear signal to Idzik’s quarterback.
Smith is going into his third year having to convince new head coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey that he should start over Fitzpatrick and Petty. Fitzpatrick challenges Smith as the starter for the present, only in the short-term.
Petty would be the long-term solution. He’s in position to move the timetable up, though. Either way, it’s just the latest vote of no-confidence in Smith.
Seeing Petty stay on the draft board until Day 3 was a mild surprise — the gap between him and the two alpha quarterbacks, Jameis Winston and Marcus Mariota, was not expected to be that wide.
More intriguing, two other quarterbacks went ahead of the much-publicized, stat-heavy Petty (more than 8,000 yards passing and 61 touchdown passes in his last two years). That included Colorado State’s Garrett Grayson, picked in the third round by the Saints to groom as Drew Brees’ heir apparent.
Yet when he was still available at the Jaguars’ pick at fourth in the fourth round, the Jets moved — according to NFL.com, it was because the Browns, also skeptical about a young quarterback, were trying to move up 12 spots for him. There was also speculation that the Bills, yet another quarterback-conflicted team, wanted to get into position for Petty, even though they began the day without a fourth-round pick.
So Petty, one of the players to watch going into the final day, was an object of great affection, and Maccagnan and the Jets aggressively chased him and got him, trading a seventh-rounder to swap spots with the Jaguars. The cost for Petty is being rescued from one circus and deposited into another, but in his favor, he has a chance to get the job sooner than with most franchises.
Few believe Petty can move from the spread style he ran at Baylor — the system that produced Robert Griffin III — to more of a pro style as a rookie. If there was confidence he could, of course, he wouldn’t have been available in the fourth round.
Yet until further notice, he’s a legitimate contender for a starting job that nobody is being handed, and nobody has locked down. Even if he doesn’t put himself in position to start in the offseason, training camp or by opening day, all eyes will be on him every time Smith misses a read, throws a pick or makes an unfathomable decision.
The same will go for Fitzpatrick, but if he’s in that spotlight, then the Smith experiment will already have ended for good.
Either way, the Jets’ eagerness to grab Petty before he slides any further is yet another wake-up call for Smith, who’s been getting them seemingly nonstop for most of his NFL career.