Muscle Sport Magazine

Jets Quarterback Carousel Continues

Bill Menzel

Now we can add Bryce Petty to the long and winding list of potential savior New York Jets (4-9) quarterbacks. The second-year player out of Baylor played well enough last weekend in San Francisco to pull out a 23-17 overtime win versus the even-worse 49ers (1-12) and will get three more starts as a showcase for next season.

If Petty is the answer remains to be seen, but at least he is a more viable candidate at this juncture than Ryan Fitzpatrick, the journeyman signal caller who had a career year in 2016 to give the organization and its fans alike some false hope that this team was not in dire need of a total rebuild… which is certainly does and has for quite some time.

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Since Joe Namath left Broadway in 1976, the Jets have been trying to replace him and the closest that they have been to equaling the Super Bowl title that he delivered has been four AFC Championship Game appearances. And the last two (2009, 2010) cam with Mark Sanchez at quarterback, he of the most glaring case of misuse by a franchise that is infamous for just that.

When the Jets traded up to select the USC product fifth overall, it appeared to be a bold move to land a franchise quarterback. And when Sanchez led the team to two consecutive conference title matches, no one could have predicted that in a few short years, he would not only become an ex-Jet, but also a journeyman back-up barely hanging on to a paycheck.

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But that is exactly what happened and the blame can be pointed squarely at the way that Sanchez was handled. Bringing in Tim Tebow was the worst thing that they could have done and it obviously was detrimental to both of them, with the latter being out of the NFL altogether after being a fellow first round draft pick.

With both Fitzpatrick and Geno Smith (another draft pick that didn’t go as planned) in all likelihood to be playing elsewhere next year, the Jets have a golden opportunity to finally commit to youth at the position and not make a knee jerk reaction. They have Petty, but more importantly, also second round draft pick Christian Hackenberg, who has a much bigger upside than the former.

But since this is the Jets were are talking about, they will probably bring in another stopgap veteran such as Tony Romo or (dare we say it?)… Colin Kaepernick.

And the quarterback carousel continues a year from now…

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