New York Jets: The truth about the quarterback situation
New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles recently spoke to the media, and it has become painfully obvious what the Jets are doing at quarterback, both for 2017 and for the future.
When you look at the Los Angeles Rams and Philadelphia Eagles, they have two major things in common. The first is obvious to most fans: they each have a young quarterback who’s successful. The second isn’t as obvious: for the most part, the Eagles and Rams brought quarterbacks into a ready-made team.
The New York Jets are trying to do the same with Christian Hackenberg. The difference is that the Jets have a quarterback and are now trying to build/prepare the team around him before they give him the keys to the organization.
New York is actually doing the right thing by not starting Hackenberg or Bryce Petty in 2017. By doing so, they’re actually showing that they’re learning from past mistakes made by the organization. In a previous regime, the Jets had a quarterback by the name of Geno Smith. The organization failed him. Yes, he was immature and maybe a bad quarterback. With that said, the Jets also didn’t surround him with the right talent to help him succeed and basically doomed him for failure.
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As reported by Luis Tirado Jr. of The Jet Press (via New York Jets Media Relations), here’s what Todd Bowles had to say about changing quarterbacks in 2017:
"“If something happens to Josh (McCown) and those two get ready to play and be ready to play, they’ll play.”"
One of the head coach’s jobs is to put his team in the best chance to win the game. Another is to give players the best chance to succeed. Putting Petty or Hackenberg in now would doom them for failure that they may not be able to recover from.
Right now, the young wide receivers are still developing, the offensive line is terrible. As a result of poor offensive line play, the running game is inconsistent. The Jets need one more offseason to build the offensive line and get a workhorse running back. Then the quarterback battle in training camp will truly be between Petty and Hackenberg.
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Eventually, the young quarterbacks have to learn by making mistakes in games that matter. Right now isn’t the time to do that. Keep the veteran in and have the young players get a little taste of winning while the young quarterbacks are leaning on the sidelines. Then, next season, have one of them win the battle and become the man.