Exclusive interview with Bryce Petty

The New York Jets are already underway in organized team activities as quarterback Bryce Petty is working hard to continue honing his craft. He sits with The Jet Press in an exclusive interview.

At David Harris‘ golf fundraiser, I had the ability to catch up with New York Jets quarterback, Bryce Petty. Before explaining the importance of supporting a teammate, jokingly, Petty (apparently a seasoned golfer) said that as soon as Harris mentioned the world “golf”, his RSVP was an immediate yes.

As an incumbent, and with no starting quarterback named for the 2016-2017 season, Petty has as good of a shot as anyone. Drafted 103rd overall in the fourth round of last year’s draft, Petty is part of a current three-man depth chart at quarterback. Last year, ESPN’s Skip Bayless called him the “steal of the draft”. Here’s my exclusive interview with Petty:

With the uncertainty surrounding the contract negotiations of last year’s starting quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, why not give Petty a fair shot? In working with wide receiving veterans Eric Decker and Brandon Marshall, “pros on and off the field… in every sense of the word”, Petty has dangerous weapons to work with.

In an interview for the Jets official website with Randy Lange on January 26, 2016, in projecting how year two will be for Petty, general manager Mike Maccagnan said: “We feel ability-wise, he can definitely be a quality No. 2 backup and the rest is kind of up to him”. As a response, Petty told me: “Number two is not my goal… For me, again, its all about coming in there and proving to myself and to everyone else that I can play in this league and be a damn good [quarterback] too….and that’s what I want to do. As far as the #1 spot, #2 spot- to me, its a process and everyday I just try to be a better quarterback.”

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During the 2015 preseason, Petty rounded out his three-game stint with a quarterback rating of 83.6, 260 yards, one TD and a 60% passer rating.

“Happy not to be a rookie anymore”, he told me his draft story is “to be continued.

[I’m] working hard every day to make sure I prove to the Jets that they made a good decision.”

With year one under his belt, the key word for Petty seems to be “prove”, as he kept telling me. “[It] has been an awesome learning experience for me last year and [I’m] excited about this year…. Now, this year, I’m comfortable with things, and I know a whole lot more…”.

Happy Thanksgiving!! Dinner is served!! Eat up!! @edeck87 @brycerr09 !!! I am officially worn out LOL

A photo posted by Jessie James Decker (@jessiejamesdecker) on Nov 26, 2015 at 12:48pm PST

must read: What happens if Ryan Clady gets injured?

On lighter notes, during the interview, we also talked about Petty attending Thanksgiving dinner with the Decker family in 2015. According to him, “[Jessie] can cook”. Also, we talked about the embarrassment about going to a New York Rangers game with super fan Nick Mangold. Petty told me: “The only time I got embarrassed was when the coach actually turned around and was telling the security guard ‘you gotta get him out of here’. I thought he was going to get kicked out“.

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