Jets handled quarterback situation perfectly

The New York Jets could not have handled their quarterback situation any better than they have this offseason.

From jump street, the New York Jets starting quarterback has been presumed to be Josh McCown, because he signed a one-year, $6 million, fully guaranteed contract. The assumption was that he would start games until one of the young quarterbacks was ready to start.

The presumption has been Week 1 belongs to McCown all along, and the media fell into the trap. McCown got a lot of the reps early on, and people began the narrative that he’d start.

Here’s the problem. NFL training camp has two purposes:

1). To get all players ready and in football shape2). To get younger, less experienced player more acclimated to the game, especially if the team is installing something they’re not accustomed to.

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The second part of that is key for the Jets this offseason. They brought in John Morton to be the new offensive coordinator, and he was bringing in a style of offense that both Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty are not accustomed to, the West Coast Offense.

So, the Jets did the prudent thing and brought in someone who has played in the system before and could teach them. They got to see it both in live action practice and film study, rather than just their playbooks.

Then the games were about to start, and the Jets began to ease off the gas pedal with McCown and give the young guys the chance to show what they learned. McCown only has played in one series, and the rest of the games plus most of the practices have gone to Petty and Hackenberg.

The coaches clearly want to see if either or both of them can handle the games. It’s very simple. Early on it was about learning for the young quarterbacks, and now it’s about seeing if they can put what they learned into action.

No matter who starts Week 1, it wasn’t a strange way to go about it. It was the perfect way to do so, given the situation the coaches were in, and that’s what the coaches are paid for, to do what’s best, even if it seems unorthodox.

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