Todd Bowles speaks about progression of quarterbacks

Head coach Todd Bowles recently chimed his thoughts on the progression of all three quarterbacks on the New York Jets right at the break of mandatory minicamp.

At this point in time, players and coaches of the New York Jets are on a break until around the end of July for the start of training camp. Positional battles will be everywhere but none as important as the quarterback position. The Jets need to find an answer to the biggest question this offseason if they have their future franchise quarterback on the roster now or if it’s back to the drawing board in 2018.

While it would be a mistake to start quarterback Josh McCown this upcoming season, there is hope that either Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg can emerge as a clear-cut starter for 2017. It won’t be easy but training camp will be the true test to see if they can beat out a veteran quarterback that is more familiar with their new offensive system than they are.

Head coach Todd Bowles is in a very delicate situation since he’s in the business to win football games but also to find out what the Jets ultimately have in either Petty or Hackenberg. Both are still relatively unknown as it remains to be seen how they’ll do in a large sample size of regular season games but their overall progression as a group is at least, for now, positive.

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Courtesy of the Media Relations Department of the Jets, here is what Bowles has to say about all three quarterbacks and how they’ve progressed so far during organized team activities and mandatory minicamp:

McCown first – obviously he’s been in the system before, or something like it so he knew more than everybody else. Just getting the timing down with the receivers, I thought he did a good job at that. (Also), from understanding and being the oldest one over there as far as knowing the scheme and helping everyone learn the scheme.

Hack (Christian Hackenberg) got to play and learn a lot more. From a confidence standpoint, he has picked up quite a bit. He’s got some timing down as well and has a good feel for the offense so I expect him to come back to training camp and let loose and throw the ball without thinking. Bryce (Petty), the same thing. His shoulder is doing a lot better. He’s been throwing the ball very well, and he’s getting a good grasp of the offense. We still haven’t put it all in, but the things we’ve put in, taking into training camp, I think they’ve all done a good job.

Needless to say, this upcoming open quarterback position is wide open among all three players. In a perfect situation, one of the younger quarterbacks will be able to prove their worth and earn the starting position heading into Week 1. Otherwise, it might be hard to accept that perhaps McCown needs to hold the fort until they’re ready at some point during the regular season. Either way and as always when it comes to the Jets, the quarterback situation will continue being in all the headlines throughout this Summer.

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