ESPN’s Rich Cimini predicts Josh McCown as starter

ESPN’s Rich Cimini predicts that at the end of the upcoming quarterback competition of the New York Jets, Josh McCown will be starting in Week 1.

The upcoming quarterback competition of the New York Jets will indeed be what dominates headlines all Summer long. Your guess is as good as mine as to who will emerge as the clear-cut winner but one thing is for sure, veteran experience usually goes a very long way when it comes to competitions like this.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini has already made his bold prediction as to who will win this quarterback competition. Take a look at what he said below:

By the end of minicamp in mid-June, McCown will be the clear-cut front-runner. The depth chart at the start of training camp will be McCown, Hackenberg and Petty, in that order, with little separation between Hackenberg and Petty. I think Bowles must pare the competition to two by the start of camp. With practice restrictions, there’s simply not enough reps to have a three-way battle. Even a two-man rotation can be cumbersome, especially when it comes to splitting playing time in preseason games.

Since the Jets are rebuilding for a brighter future, Cimini does have a point here. Head coach Todd Bowles is in the market to win football games, not do what the majority of fans want him to do. If they do have an open competition and considering all the previous reports of both Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg possibly not being ready to be starters, McCown might very well do enough to lock in a starting spot.

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If such a case happens, the Jets will more than likely give Hackenberg a plethora of preseason experience to make up for the fact that he might have another year of not seeing any regular season playing time.

The Jets want to build up Hackenberg the right way and since he’s been dubbed a developmental player since he was drafted, this would be the right thing to do as he continues to learn.

Petty, on the other hand, will be relegated to backup duties. If something happens where McCown can’t consistently get the job done, Petty might very well see some playing time but again, it would need to be another meltdown from under center to warrant such a change. Like Cimini pointed out, McCown doesn’t have a proven winning record but the man has a ton of leadership and can command the huddle like the veteran that he is. That’s big when it comes to rallying the troops and playing good enough to win.

It will be very interesting to see how this all pans out but one can imagine most fans aren’t going to get excited to see McCown under center to start the regular season, regardless if he’s doing well in training camp. Fans want to see what Petty and/or Hackenberg can ultimately do but at the end of the day, Bowles and company will do whatever it takes to win football games. If that means starting McCown, then get ready to see No. 15 under center in Week 1.