Jets' starting quarterback is still anyone's guess
Jets head coach Todd Bowles speaks to the media after practice during training camp at Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, N.J., on Wednesday. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Every day, Jets coach Todd Bowles is asked in new and different ways just when he finally will name his starting quarterback already. And every day, he finds a new and different way to say “not today.’’
On Sunday, he almost used those exact words.
“I definitely won’t do it today,’’ Bowles said of his timetable for revealing his starter for the season-opening game against the Lions on Sept. 10. “Sometime next week — maybe.’’
The Jets began their regular- season practice schedule on Sunday, meaning reporters were allowed to watch only the first 30 minutes of practice — which includes stretching and warmups. Rookie Sam Darnold, who started the last two preseason games, took the first snaps with the offense when they did their walk-through during the open period. Still, Bowles isn’t ready to make it official that Darnold has won the job.
Bowles said he’s been talking to his coaching staff all spring and all summer about the competition between Darnold, 39-year-old incumbent Josh McCown and former Vikings Pro Bowler Teddy Bridgewater. Bowles said he has his own opinion on who the starter will be but constantly canvasses the members of his staff to get their opinions.
“As coaches, we’ll meet on it and keep meeting on it,’’ Bowles said. “I have my ideas in my head — which I’ll keep to myself at this point. But I have a good idea.’’
It sure would seem as if everything is pointing to Darnold, the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 draft, who has gotten the majority of the playing time in the preseason games and worked exclusively with the starters in practice the last two weeks. Still, Bowles said he has not informed the players which way he is leaning, and on Sunday, the quarterbacks repeated the same stuff they’ve been saying all summer.
“I wouldn’t be disappointed, I wouldn’t be surprised,’’ Darnold said when asked what he would think if, at this point, he wasn’t named the starter. “Throughout my short career playing football, I’ve seen a lot of things, so I know Teddy and Josh are great players, so I wouldn’t be surprised. But at the same time, every quarterback wants to play.
“But that’s not my job to put the best player out there — that’s the coaches’ job,’’ he said. “Whether that’s Josh, whether that’s Teddy, whether that’s me, we’re just going to go out there and do the best that we can.’’
McCown, who has played exactly one series in the preseason (a three-and-out in the first possession of the first preseason game) was asked if he thinks he already knows who’ll be starting.
“Well, we’ll see how it goes,’’ he said. “We’ll see what Coach Bowles decides, and like I said, we’ll be supportive whatever the decision is. If it’s Teddy, he’ll be ready to go; if it’s me, I’ll be ready to go; if it’s Sam, we’re behind him.’’
NFL teams typically don’t play their starters in the final preseason game because of the risk of injury so close to the season. If Darnold is going to be the man in Week 1 of the season, he probably won’t play Thursday when the Jets close out the preseason in Philadelphia against the Eagles. Bridgewater said he’d love to play Thursday, and McCown said he’ll be ready and willing if Bowles wants to use him.
If McCown isn’t named the starter, would he be willing to continue to play the role of mentor and de facto quarterback coach to the 21-year-old Darnold?
“Whatever I can do to help the team, that’s the main thing,’’ McCown said. “And if I can be another set of eyes for Sam and for JB [offensive coordinator Jeremy Bates] and when we’re talking, bouncing ideas off each other, if I can do that and it helps our team play good football, then that’s what it’s about.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
