Empire Writes Back
Fansided

New York Jets insinuate bad drafting in calling young quarterbacks “Triple-A”

By Alan Schechter

NEW YORK JETS EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - JANUARY 01: Christian Hackenberg (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images)
NEW YORK JETS EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ - JANUARY 01: Christian Hackenberg (Photo by Ed Mulholland/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The New York Jets staff is not exactly infatuated with the quality of its young quarterbacks.

Josh McCown’s production this season is only delaying the inevitable for the New York Jets. He isn’t the long-term answer at the quarterback position and the Jets need to find one. There are no two ways about it. Thanks to the success so far in 2017, could the plans of how to find that quarterback be changing? Sure, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a pressing need. Whether it’s a free agent or someone in the draft, the Jets need to find that player.

Haven’t we waited long enough?

There are two young quarterbacks on the roster in Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. What about them? We have never seen Hackenberg in a regular season NFL game, and Petty has started a few games with limited success. Some fans would argue that as the Jets likely fall out of the playoff hunt over the last part of the season, they should take a long look at these two players to see what they really have.

More from Empire Writes Back

We already know how coach Bowles feels on the matter, when asked if there is a scenario where the youngsters might play:

"“I’m not coming up with a scenario right now,” Bowles said. “We’re going to play the games and we’re going to try to win each one and take them one at a time and Josh will be our quarterback and then we’ll go from there.”"

That could be deemed as surprising but it is also understandable in a sense. Todd Bowles needs to show he is worthy of the final year of his contract in order to be back. It will be more difficult if he uses a quarterback he isn’t comfortable with just for the sake of playing a younger one.

However, when you hear comments from a position coach it becomes more alarming. Their job status revolves around the status of the head coach so they don’t speak for the general manager. They simply remark about what is going on between the white lines in front of them. That is all they care about.

So it is very telling when the position coach Jeremy Bates says the following about whether the young quarterbacks will play (via the NY Post):

"“As an organization, this is professional football. This isn’t Triple-A,” Jets QBs coach Jeremy Bates said Tuesday on a conference call. “We’re going to play the best players that give us the opportunity to win, in all positions. That’s our philosophy. Josh is our starter. He gives us the opportunity to win on Sunday, and that’s what we’re focused on.”"

“This isn’t Triple-A”. How telling of a statement is that? Bates might just as well have said that these two guys stink and without an injury there is no chance they play. That’s how bad calling them “Triple-A” is. It tells us that they have already made a decision about these two quarterbacks. They can’t get it done and the Jets staff is finished with them, barring a McCown injury.

It certainly begs one to wonder why they are still on the roster if they aren’t worth using. Why not just start over, find a cheap veteran to be the backup and worry about it after the season? These are not decisions for us to make, however.

Next: Jets history after the bye for the last decade

But is it also a veiled shot at Mike Maccagnan? Think about it for a minute. The general manager is responsible for both of these young players and neither of them are worth using. Isn’t that calling out the man’s ability to draft at the position? Could this be a sign of a break in the armor between Maccagnan and Bowles? It’s hard to say that now but it is interesting to be that dead set against using guys that he selected. Onward with McCown no matter what I guess.

Home/New York Jets