Jets land Vick, and Geno Smith Happiest of All

So even though I am a Bears fan forever I feel that this is a big news topic worth talking about. So if you are like me and love football and/or are a New York Jets fan (and no I am not), then you probably know that the Jets just signed quarterback Michael Vick to a one year, $5 million contract. Most experts seem to be under the assumption that Vick has two roles to play within the organization: one is to be a mentor to the Jets' former 2nd round pick Geno Smith in order to help him grow into a starting quarterback, and the other role is to compete and win the starting job. Now of course, Geno Smith is expected to say that he is happy to have Michael Vick on the team, but I don't think anyone expected Smith to be so ecstatic about Vick's coming to New York. According to an article by Joe Casey of stunnalife.com, Smith was quoted as saying, "Awesome, man. Vick's my guy. We needed to find a guy that was legitimately a guy that could come in and play. I think that's what we did. Mission accomplished." (Casey). Wow, what a quote. Seems like Geno is really happy to have Vick in NYC. Almost a little too happy if you ask me. In fact, I think it is fair to say that Geno is happy to let Vick be the starter for the Jets in order to take a year off to learn a few things and possibly let people try to forget about his horrifying rookie season.

Certainly with the addition of Michael Vick, this does mean that there will be a competition between the two quarterbacks for the starting job, but after reading that quote by Smith, it just seems that he just may not be up to the task of being the starting quarterback for the Jets this season. And who wouldn't think that after last season when Smith threw for a little over 3,000 yards and had 12 touchdowns with 21 interceptions. Now for a rookie quarterback to start his first season in the NFL, the speculation that some analysts have is that they will not have any instant success. Especially in Geno Smith's situation in New York where the offensive line was inconsistent and the wide receivers were constantly bumped and bruised. So not all of what happened last season was his fault. And the Jets have made some good moves by signing former Denver Broncos wide receiver Eric Decker in an attempt to improve to the receiving corp and are also thought to be the team that will make a trade for wide out Desean Jackson which would up the teams offense immensely. But the key point here is to find the best quarterback that will lead the Jets back to the playoffs as Mark Sanchez did in 2009 his rookie season when he took them all the way to the AFC championship game. Luckily for Geno, he was not being asked to do so his rookie season, but I think everyone was thinking he would at least have some nice solid stats.

Of course, many would probably say that Geno Smith's comments on the Jets getting Michael Vick are just for the media and cameras; it's something that he just has to say in order to come off supportive of the decision. The way I think of it is that if were the Coach Ryan or the GM of the team and heard my starting quarterback say something like that, I would think that he is definitely not the man for the job or the kind of guy I would look to as the future of the franchise. I know it's easy to say that, but every time I read or hear what he said, it just makes me think that he is not the guy to look toward when you need someone to start. So what would be his best option if being the starter is not in the cards this season? Probably to sit back and learn all he can from Michael Vick and the coaching staff, like he should have done last year and should do this year, to allow him to grow as an NFL quarterback and be ready for next year. But, we'll just have to see what happens this coming season. Regardless of who becomes the starting quarterback for the New York Jets, hopefully they will be able to take advantage of their draft picks and get themselves some talented offensive weapons for both Smith and Vick to use and protect them. Who knows, we might even get to see them back in the post season once again.