And you thought the Jets’ quarterback plans couldn’t get any stranger.
David Garrard, the veteran whom the Jets have stubbornly — and inexplicably — refused to use during rookie Geno Smith’s recent troubles, said after Friday’s practice the team has approached him repeatedly about coming back as a player next season.
Garrard, 35, said the most recent informal contact from Jets management about a 2014 return was two weeks ago, with the club explaining its interest by telling him “once a Jet, always a Jet.”
Despite being relegated to No. 3 quarterback behind Smith and former undrafted free agent Matt Simms, Garrard said he would “love to come back,” but isn’t ready to commit because he hasn’t consulted his family and because of potential playing opportunities elsewhere.
“It’s something I would have to think about,” Garrard said as the 5-7 Jets prepared to host the 4-8 Raiders on Sunday.
Later in the day, Garrard contacted The Post to say he didn’t mean to imply the Jets had asked specifically about playing for them again in 2014, but that he was only speaking about continuing his NFL career. A Jets spokesman confirmed the team has had no discussions with Garrard about a potential 2014 return.
The Jets’ refusal to use Garrard remains puzzling, considering they are still in playoff contention, but have lost three games in a row in large part because of Smith’s ineffective, turnover-prone play.
Coach Rex Ryan is starting Smith again this weekend, though the second-round pick from West Virginia hasn’t thrown a touchdown pass since Week 7 against the Patriots and was benched at halftime of the Jets’ 23-3 loss to the Dolphins last week.
Smith is completing just 38 percent of his passes with no touchdowns and six interceptions during the Jets’ three-game skid, but Ryan went with Simms in relief last week and seemingly acts as if Garrard isn’t even on the team.
General manager John Idzik signed him to a one-year, $1 million deal in the offseason that included a $100,000 signing bonus. He briefly retired in the offseason because of weakness in his knee stemming from surgery last year, then returned in October saying he was fully recovered.
There has been speculation Garrard isn’t entirely healthy, but the former Jaguars starter disagreed Friday.
“I feel great,” Garrard said. “I’m as healthy now as I was before my knee surgery. I’m not my pep, young self, but aging happens to everybody. But physically, I’m healthy. I feel like I can go out there and do anything that I’ve done before.”
Then again, the coaching staff’s hesitancy to use Garrard isn’t entirely unfounded. He did throw 15 interceptions in 14 games in 2010, his final season with Jacksonville, and led the league with 14 fumbles in 2009 and 11 fumbles in 2010.
Garrard, who hasn’t played a regular-season snap since 2010, in large part because of concerns about his health, said he is grateful to the Jets for resurrecting his career and readily admits, “It’s Geno’s team.”
“How can you be frustrated when you retire and get an opportunity to come back?” Garrard said. “You’re happy to be in any situation. You can’t make any noise or have any regrets. You just have to be ready to go.”
At the same time, Garrard told The Post he has pulled aside quarterbacks coach David Lee on more than one occasion this season for “little talks” about how the coaching staff feels about him.
“I’m still a competitor, and I would love to play,” Garrard said. “But I don’t have any thoughts or concerns about, ‘Why me?’ I’ve played for a while now and had a ton of shots. I just have to be ready when it happens.”
But Garrard said he isn’t frustrated or confused and doesn’t feel as if the Jets broke any promises to him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be open to returning if the team is serious about wanting him back.
“I actually understand everything that’s going on,” Garrard said. “Geno needs his work. He needs the reps on the field. He needs to be able to work the offense out of this slump we’re in, so he needs that time. None of that bothers me.I just want to be as supportive for him and this team as much as I can, and right now, that’s definitely my role.”