New York Jets: All signs point to Summer, Fall, and Winter of Geno

Despite the constant preachings of competition, the New York Jets seem to be priming the public for a familiar face behind center come Week One.

On Thursday, members of the media were given access to players in an open locker room.

When asked about the starting quarterback job, Michael Vick had some candid answers to provide, expanding on an offseason script that has highlighted a single theme.

“Going into camp with Nick [in Philadelphia], we knew it was an open competition and the best guy was going to win the job — the guy who performed throughout OTAs and the preseason. This situation is different. It’s kind of unique. Even though it’s not an open competition, we’re both competing every day.”

The rest of the Jets brass sees Geno Smith as the number one man, as well, echoing Vick’s words.

David Nelson told me he’s operating under the approach that Smith is the starter. #nyj

— Rich Cimini (@RichCimini) May 22, 2014

Even Offensive Coordinator Marty Mornhinweg and Head Coach Rex Ryan have stated that ‘Geno Smith will be hard to beat out,’ in their own verbiage.

While injury and/or a complete collapse are both still in play for QB Geno Smith in late May—more likely than not—it will be Smith who is given a second season to showcase his skills, with a bolstered supporting cast.

Geno Smith finished 2013 as the quarterback with the 34th-best QBR, which is ESPN’s measure of QB’s play across the many faucets of the game they impact. He had the fourth-worst number of interceptions (21), while scoring just the 28th-best number of touchdowns (12). His completion percentage (55.8) ranked 35th among QBs, while being sacked 43 times (t-5th).

It’s crystal-clear that Smith will need to make a sophomore year leap, in order to keep the faith of the front office. In saying this, I will be breaking down Geno Smith’s 2013 play these coming days/weeks.

As I did way back when with Mark Sanchez, I will be investigating the root cause for a 8-8 record—QB play or a poor surrounding cast? While the easy answer is both, I’ll attempt to determine which group deserves more of the blame.