New York Jets: Was Geno Smith tough to mentor?

Was quarterback Geno Smith tough to mentor last season under the eyes of former quarterback Michael Vick? Most of the time when a veteran quarterback is brought into an organization, it’s to help lead the way and have a chance to mentor young quarterbacks towards a better direction. Needless to say, last season the Jets’ quarterback situation was absolutely terrible. Smith continued to be a turnover machine and Vick was completely unprepared when his number was called.

Perhaps the Jets should have given the starting quarterback position to Vick to allow Smith to prepare like most teams prefer from the sidelines. Instead, the Jets tried to sell fans the idea that a “quarterback competition” would determine the true starting quarterback when the reality was Smith was given way more first team reps and was pretty much given the spot over Vick.

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This is a tough situation from a veteran’s point of view since Vick would have preferred to start and use that as a teaching tool for Smith to learn the ropes from one of the most prolific dual-threat quarterbacks playing today. It was a limited time affair as once last season was over, the Jets would head in a different direction without Vick in the picture anymore.

In an article written by Jordan Raanan of NJ.com, here is what Vick had to say about the entire situation:

"“The only thing I could do was advise him from my past experiences, not through my play. Sometimes when you can advise through your play and a guy can sit back and watch you and live vicariously through you, it helps him out.”"

Of course story telling can only go so far if you’re not able to coach and train in the heat of the moment. It goes without saying that last year, the Jets truly dropped the ball at quarterback and probably wish they could go back and do things a little bit differently to ensure a much better situation.

Overall, while Vick does have a point that it was indeed tough to mentor Smith in those kind of conditions, hopefully things turn out for the better at quarterback this time around. Unfortunately for Vick, he’s still a free agent and Smith is once again slated to be the Week 1 starter come the regular season unless someone else can beat him outright for the spot. Perhaps Smith learned a thing or two last year from Vick, if not, it’s his time to shine or face the utter reality that he might not be an option anymore come this time next year.

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