Quarterback competition is once again done wrong

Before training camp of the New York Jets, there were talks of a fair and open quarterback competition between Josh McCown, Christian Hackenberg, and Bryce Petty. Unfortunately, it’s once again being done wrong to determine a winner.

Months before the start of training camp for the New York Jets, the leadership regime spoke about how they planned to have an open and fair quarterback competition. The Jets brought in a veteran quarterback as insurance to serve as a mentor to their younger players in the positional group and one that can step right in and play if needed.

The plan was to have all three quarterbacks compete throughout training camp to determine the next starting quarterback of the Jets. It made sense to give as close to equal reps as possible to each quarterback and then eventually have it come down to the best two options to finalize who would be starting and the backup behind him.

Unfortunately, as it seems to be a common theme with the Jets, they’re handling this quarterback competition all wrong. In an article written by Rich Cimini of ESPN, things are already lopsided just into the very first week of training camp. Take a look at Cimini’s breakdown:

Bowles said this would be an open competition, but it hasn’t unfolded that way. McCown has worked exclusively with the starters, showing good command of the offense and the huddle.

Obviously, Josh McCown is a veteran of 14 years but to give him the majority of first-team reps is confusing considering that if the Jets are rebuilding with youth, why shouldn’t that have been either Christian Hackenberg or Bryce Petty? Of course, it’s only been a week but reports are that Hackenberg isn’t doing so good and Petty has been working with the third-string team.

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It just doesn’t make sense as once again, the Jets dropped the ball in having a real open competition at quarterback.

Maybe the Jets will switch things up and rotate others into first-team reps over the next few weeks during preseason football. Either way, McCown is clearly leading the pack at this point in time which is a scary situation heading into the regular season.

For years now, even with a brand new leadership regime, the Jets continue to do everything but the right thing when it comes to their quarterback situation. Frankly, McCown shouldn’t even be in the running to be a starter again considering that the Jets released a plethora of aging and unproductive veterans to usher in a youth movement.

Rebuilding will bring a ton of growing pains but it’s mind-boggling that the Jets are seriously handling their quarterback competition this way right off the bat. It would have made more sense to have Hackenberg go up against Petty and simply keep McCown as a backup since that’s what he’s been throughout his career. Either way, this quarterback competition, just a week in, is being handled wrong by the Jets once again.