The Jets shouldn’t worry about drafting a quarterback because Phil Simms believes that the one they have – Geno Smith – would be the top quarterback on this year’s board.
In picking apart the top QBs in the coming draft, such as Louisville’s Teddy Bridgewater, Texas A&M’s Johnny Manziel and Central Florida’s Blake Bortles, Simms said Smith would be at the top of his list if he were still at West Virginia.
“If you’re the New York Jets you’ve got to sit there and go, ‘Wow, good thing we made a move last year and we didn’t wait until this year,’” Simms said Wednesday on SiriusXM’s Mad Dog Sports Radio channel with Adam Schein. “My first thought is just physically and how he played at the end of the year I would be pretty happy going, ‘Man, all right, we got a guy.’ I think if Geno Smith was in this draft class he would be the number one guy, without question.”
Simms had a close look at Smith as he was playing ahead of his son, Matt, with the Jets. Matt replaced Smith at halftime in a 23-3 Week 13 loss to the Dolphins briefly sparking a quarterback controversy, but Smith played his best football after the benching.
Simms poked holes in all the top quarterbacks and said there may not be a true franchise quarterback out there. He said Bridgewater has a “middle of the pack” arm for the NFL, questioned Manziel’s explosiveness and arm strength and picked apart Bortles’ throwing motion and sub-par 40-yard dash time.
Simms said Manziel’s playground-style ways “worries” him because it will likely get him injured. He also shot down the comparison to Seahawks Super Bowl-winning quarterback Russell Wilson.
“Russell Wilson is more explosive,” Simms said. “He’s naturally bigger and stronger than Johnny Manziel. They’re not even close in arm strength.”
Usually at this time of the year, Simms says there is one quarterback who sets himself apart. But that isn’t the case right now.
“Usually my first instinct – every once in a while I do back up and go, ‘Oh, boy, I should have watched more film on him before I opened my big mouth’ – but, no, my first thought is none of them jump out at me saying,
‘This is the guy. If I had to pick a quarterback first, this is the one I would take,’” he said.