With free agency now and a standstill, Ryan Fitzpatrick and the New York Jets still remain far apart. But is Fitz the best option for 2016?
By Robby Sabo
It’s a scary proposition for fans.
Frightening? Yes. New? No.
This organization has gone without a franchise quarterback for many years. In fact, 99 percent of football fans would proclaim Gang Green has gone without one since No. 12 was guaranteeing his way to a Super Bowl III victory – thus legitimizing the big game for the AFL and the world.
His name was Joe Namath, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.
So to say Jets fans aren’t used to this type of scenario would be quite foolish.
Nevertheless, it is a situation. One that has fans from Queens to Jersey spitting out names and numbers of anybody with a realistic shot to touch the backside of Nick Mangold in 2016.
The question we tackle today, though, is what’s the best case scenario for the Jets in 2016?
We rank them. Check it out:
5. Geno Smith (QB-NYJ)
- 25-years old, 6’3”, 218 lbs.
- 39th overall selection, 2013 (NYJ)
- NFL Career: 11-18 record, 5,836 yards, 27 TD, 35 INT
- Contract: 1-year remaining, $1,597,146 cap hit in 2016
Starting us off is a guy some want to see get another shot behind center.
To say Geno Smith brings a wide variety of emotions to the Jets fan’s table would be the understatement of the decade. Despite his poor play on the field, he has split the fanbase into fans who are pro-Geno and anti-Geno.
The main reason for this comes courtesy of John Idzik.
Geno played with a cast of characters around him who were less than stellar. Actually, they were terrible. When Jeremy Kerley represents a No. 1 target on an offense, the young QB might struggle.
For our purposes today, Geno comes in at the No. 5 spot. He’s already on the roster and still on his rookie contract. His cap hit of $1,597,146 is simply peanuts in comparison to some of the other options.
However, money is meaningless if the production on the field isn’t there. While Geno does provide many positives by way of mobility and toughness – especially when standing the pocket and delivering a strike while a defender is bearing down on him – what’s between the ears is very questionable.
And let’s be honest: Geno didn’t exactly pay the organization back the right way after he was named the starter heading into the 2015 season. Avoiding the IK Enemkpali situation would have been a more fruitful path to head down.
Putting aside the questionable leadership abilities, his deplorable decision-making makes it impossible to put him higher than No. 5, despite how comfy it makes the cap.
4. Paxton Lynch (QB-DRAFT)
- 22-years old, 6’7”, 244 lbs.
- Projected to go in mid to late 1st Round
- College Career: 8,865 yards, 59 TD, 23 INT
- Contract: N/A
The positive is clear when discussing Memphis quarterback Paxton Lynch.
He’d be the undoubted future at the position.
Should Mike Maccagnan draft the kid with interesting dual-threat ability, Lynch would automatically become the future. You simply cannot take a QB in the first round and not plan the entire franchise around him. Not in this league the way QBs and the salary cap rules all.
Standing at 6’7”, Lynch possesses a solid arm and moves very well in the pocket while still looking to scan the field. Most mobile youngsters look to tuck-it and run far too soon in the progression of the play.
He’s not a project. He’d have a shot to play immediately.
He’d need to work on ball placement in certain situations and shorten up on a slight windup he has.
Obviously, though, if Lynch becomes a Jet it would mean their first-round pick is spent on the kid, instead of looking to snag that edge rusher not seen since the likes of John Abraham.
3. Ryan Fitzpatrick (QB-FA)
- 33-years old, 6’2”, 221 lbs.
- 255th overall selection, 2005 (STL)
- NFL Career: 43-61-1, 32,178 yards, 154 TD, 116 INT
- Contract: N/A
The New York Jets franchise record holder for touchdown passes in a single-season is, now, Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Can you believe it? The career journeyman who’s bounced from squad to squad only needed one year to pass the likes of Joe Namth, Ken O’Brien and even Chad Pennington (yeah why not, let’s throw him into the mix as well).
Fluke? Who knows.
Of course Fitz is still a free agent. Right now the market is coming in loud and clear to him that the $15+ annual salary the Harvard grad is looking for is too rich for any organization’s blood.
But what about $9 or $10?
Nobody on this list would be in more command of the offense than Fitzpatrick. Furthermore, the Jets would build upon the momentum gained from molding the offense around him in 2015.
Chan Gailey, Brandon Marshall and Eric Decker will all still be there in 2016, and thanks to the market speaking so loudly, Maccagnan might get away with bringing the veteran back on a smart, risk-free, short-term deal.
The question is: Do the Jets possess a long-term solution on the roster to assume responsibility in a year or two when Fitz is, perhaps, done?
2. Bryce Petty (QB-NYJ)
- 24-years old, 6’3”, 230 lbs.
- 103 overall selection, 2015 (NYJ)
- College Career: 8,195 yards, 62 TD, 10 INT
- Contract: 3-years remaining, $663,424 cap hit in 2016
In hitchhiking off of Fitz’s page, Bryce Petty is might be that future we speak about.
Honestly, if you say you know the kid is a bonafide stud, you are lying.
Petty is a fourth-round selection who most deem as a project. He’s a kid with many physical positives, yet remains so far off as it relates to reading defenses that he’s nowhere near competing for the starting spot.
We know this by using our noggin.
Think about it. Nobody is closer to the Jets quarterback situation than Ryan Fitzpatrick, yet Fitz is completely willing to call the Jets bluff. He’s willing to take this negotiation all the way until the end.
Why?
Because he understands Mike Mac and the organization have zero faith in the current QBs on the roster. If they did, they would’ve already given Fitz a hard-line stance and simply said “we are moving on.”
Instead, immediately following the season ending, Maccagnan proclaimed Fitzpatrick as the starter.
Does this mean Petty can’t be the future? Of course not. He can, and if he shows his rumored “improvement” in OTAs and carries it into training camp, having Petty start in 2016 would be a huge win for the franchise. He costs very little against the cap and is under contract for three more seasons.
The problem is, he’s just not at that level, yet, and we don’t know if he’ll ever get there.
Considering that, and that only, we can’t realistically put him at No. 1 on this list, despite how great it would work out all the way around.
1. Mike Glennon (QB-TB)
- 26-years old, 6’7”, 225 lbs.
- 73rd overall selection, 2013 (TB)
- NFL Career: 5-13, 4,025 yards, 29 TD, 15 INT
- Contract: 1-year remaining, $1,830,375 cap hit in 2016
There’s one significant reason Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Mike Glennon is the New York Jets best solution at the position moving forward: He’s good.
Just take a quick glance at Glennon’s stats. The kid put up a 26-15 TD/INT ratio in 18 career NFL starts. And oh yeah, he did it with a pretty terrible roster around him.
We know Tampa is shopping Glennon. They have been for a year now. The only reason he’s still with the Bucs is because of their ridiculous asking price of a first or second round pick.
Reports have recently surfaced that Tampa has finally lowered their asking price.
What this is, simply put, is a golden opportunity for Maccagnan.
There’s only one reason Glennon wasn’t a starter in 2015. The Bucs found themselves atop of the draft with a guy in Jameis Winston who couldn’t be passed up.
That fortunate situation for Tampa presents the opportunity for the Jets to snag a legitimate, young QB who has the potential to be the man. And instead of having to waste a first-round pick on a guy like Lynch, or spend $9-$10 million on an older guy like Fitzpatrick, the Jets would only have to give up a mid-round pick for a 26-year old prototypical quarterback.
Glennon is tall, has a canon for an arm, and is quite smart. His downfall is that he’s so confident in his arm that he tries to fit the ball into tight windows at times. He’s got a little gunslinger in him.
Still, giving up a fourth or third round pick for this guy, letting Fitz walk, and drafting an edge rusher with their first pick would be the best scenario all the way around.
The college teammate of Russell Wilson, who Wilson raves about, could be had for a third-round pick. Should the Jets acquire him, they could sign him to a reasonable long-term offer prior to the kid even taking the field.
The goal here would be to maximize the bang for your buck.
If the Jets believe the kid can play, going into camp with Glennon, Petty and Geno is pretty solid for the now and the future, while not killing the cap in the least.