New York Jets: Geno Smith Appears Open to a Return

The New York Jets have a very uncertain quarterback situation heading into 2017. Could Geno Smith still be an option?

Heading into 2017, the New York Jets have one of the worst quarterback situations in the NFL. As of now, the Jets have two unproven quarterbacks going into the season, and many expect them to sign a quarterback if they don’t draft one.

One possibility for the Jets is to re-sign quarterback Geno Smith. After losing his starting job to Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015, Smith finally got a chance to show what he could do in the middle of last season. Unfortunately, Smith tore his ACL in a win against the Baltimore Ravens. Despite being an unrestricted free agent, Smith left the door open to a return to the Jets.

"“We’ll see,” Smith told NFL Network in a 1-on-1 interview via Connor Hughes of NJ.com. “Honestly, I wouldn’t say that’s out of the question. All of the options are on the table.”"

One of the concerns about bringing back Smith is because of his knee injury. However, Smith seemed optimistic that he would be totally ready to go for training camp.

"“I’m about five months in heading into month six,” Smith said of his recovery. “I should be on schedule to be a full-go during [training] camp when that comes around. And I’m good with that. Maybe not do as much in organized team activities as far as on-field stuff, but we’ll see how it goes.”"

Due to his performance as a quarterback, Smith is not going to be given a starting job. This will be something that he has to earn. However, he is open to being a backup.

"“I’m open to it,” Smith said of being a backup. “That’s not my goal … I was brought into this league, I was brought to the Jets, to be a certain caliber of player and being injured for two years has kind of taken that away from me. My mistakes were shown on the field my first two years, then me getting better has kind of been behind the scenes."

If Smith wants a chance to start, the Jets would likely be one of his best chances in the NFL. Due to Petty and Hackenberg being unproven, Smith certainly would have an edge over the.

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However, the Jets might rather give one of their two young quarterbacks a chance before Smith if they did decide to sign him. For Smith, he should be able to get a backup job somewhere rather easily. Despite not having much success with the Jets, Smith is still young and has the physical tools that teams look for in a quarterback.