December games are all about future quarterback situation

In December, the New York Jets will have some tough decisions to make as they will undoubtedly bring some clarity to their quarterback situation for the future.

As of right now, head coach Todd Bowles is committed to Josh McCown as the starting quarterback of the New York Jets and not even thinking about making any quarterback changes, unlike their cross-town rival New York Giants. Yeah, the Giants season is pretty much over but the Jets at 4-7, still have a shot, albeit a small one, at making this year an even more memorable one.

Their playoff chances are slim but at the end of the day, December will be all about deciding their future at quarterback. At 38-years-old, McCown has gone above and beyond expectations and has been a pleasant surprise for the Jets this season.

Is he the future of the franchise? Absolutely not but he’s the perfect kind of leader and veteran mentor young quarterbacks need for their development. The problem is, the biggest area of opportunity that continues to hold the Jets back is not having a young franchise quarterback that’s worth building a solid team around.

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With five games left in the season, once the Jets are out of playoff contention, it would make a plethora of sense to consider starting one of their young quarterbacks to see where they’re at in this stage of the game. The truth of the matter is, the Jets know Bryce Petty can be decent but can he be healthy for an entire season?

When Petty had his time to shine, he, unfortunately, got hurt and well, it set him back as his overall play was average at best. The Jets might also want to see what Christian Hackenberg has learned so far and also give him some regular season playing time.

Again, this has to only happen once the Jets are mathematically eliminated and then it would make sense to make such a quarterback move to determine who should stay and who should go at season’s end. The Jets have an opportunity to fix their quarterback situation once and for all next offseason but surely, they can’t go into next year with so many players at the most important position on the team.

The Jets need to see who is worth keeping and as of now, it makes sense to bring back McCown as a quality backup for insurance and one of their other young quarterbacks that has the most potential to be a starter. For now, Petty seems to have the higher upside over Hackenberg based on the past but again, anything can happen in the final month of the regular season. Especially if either of them gets a chance to shine in games that won’t count towards anything other than being great learning experiences.

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Hopefully, the Jets get a real assessment of either or even both young quarterbacks to get an idea if they’re worth keeping around for the future. Considering the Jets have a huge year in 2018 to continue their rebuilding efforts, they need to make a decision once and for all on either Petty or Hackenberg as both can’t stay. McCown has done more than enough to at least be brought back in a backup/mentoring role if he’s even still an option after this season. As far as Petty and Hackenberg are concerned, December might very well be the most important month of their respective young careers at this point in time.