Regardless of how impressive Mike White was under center for the Jets vs. the Chicago Bears on Sunday, it’s only one game. Things will start getting much harder in Week 13 and beyond. Even if White helps Gang Green break its 12-year playoff drought, now is probably not the time to hand the franchise QB keys over to him.
Or, maybe it is time to do that, says former NFL cornerback Richard Sherman. He went into detail on why he thinks so on The Richard Sherman Podcast. Here’s some of what he said (quotes via WFAN):
You hear [White’s] teammates talking about him. They talk about his work ethic. They talk about how prepared he is, even when he was the No. 3 quarterback. You hear about how happy they are for him. How much fun they’re having. That’s when you know you have a special guy.
He continued by saying the only reason this conversation is even happening in the first place is that White wasn’t a huge prospect and was selected in the fifth round. If White was the second overall pick in the NFL Draft like Zach Wilson was, this wouldn’t even be a discussion. Sherman continued with this:
[White] is a franchise quarterback! If you’re going to sit there and wait for a guy who has obviously shown he’s not capable of playing this kind of football. It went from an anemic offense to, ‘Oh my god, look how many playmakers they have on the field.’ Everybody was saying the season was lost. Wait until Breece Hall comes back [next year].
Sherman knows a thing or two about being an afterthought on draft day and becoming a household name at cornerback. He was also a fifth-round pick by the Seattle Seahawks in 2011 out of Stanford.
This opinion from Sherman is mostly shared by WFAN’s Joe Beningo, who wants to keep seeing White line up under center for the Jets moving forward. Is it a little too early to anoint Mike White as the Jets’ quarterback of the future? Well, yes — of course it is. He’s only appeared in six games, with four of them being starts. It’s similar to people saying it was too early to judge Wilson’s future after 13 games as a rookie in 2021.
But if White keeps the good vibes going in the locker room, the Jets won’t have a choice other than to let him continue running with the opportunity.
Matt Musico can be reached at matt.musico@xlmedia.com and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.
