If you listen to Michael Vick, the Jets’ starting quarterback competition is over before it even began.
Vick said Thursday there is no “open competition” for the job between him and Geno Smith. When he was asked to compare it to last year when he competed with Nick Foles for the Eagles’ starting job, he said this is totally different.
“[Foles and I] knew, both of us coming in, that it was open competition and the best guy was going to win the job, whoever performed well throughout OTAs and preseason. That’s just what it was. It was pretty much cut and dry,” Vick said. “So, this situation is kind of different. It’s kind of unique. Even though it’s not an open competition, we’re both competing every day.”
This goes against everything Jets general manager John Idzik preaches. Idzik relentlessly talks about competition to the point you wonder if the chefs in the kitchen at the Jets’ training center are fighting for their jobs.
But Vick, who signed a one-year, $4 million deal with the Jets in March, sounds like he is ready to hold a clipboard while Smith plays.
“It’s still tough right now. I’ll admit it. I won’t lie,” Vick said. “Deep down you always want to be a starter. You always feel like you’re a starter. That’s just the competitive nature in me. Hopefully, that opportunity will come again one day and I’ve just got to keep working for it. Nothing is easy in this league.”
Vick, 33, said he believes if he and Smith play equally through training camp, Smith will be the starter.
“Yeah, I would assume Geno would be the starter,” Vick said. “Geno’s making great strides. At the end of the year last year he did a lot of remarkable things and put this team in a position to win and did everything he was asked to do. I think Marty [Mornhinweg, offensive coordinator] has really seen him take those strides and was excited about this year coming in.”
Smith committed 25 turnovers last season as a rookie and was the lowest-rated passer in the NFL. Despite Vick’s belief that there is no competition, Smith said he’s not approaching things as if he has already won the job.
“I don’t think that way,” Smith said. “I don’t put my mind in that position. I try to work as if I’m the underdog. Whether I’m named the starter or not, that’s the way that I work. Like I said, that’s something that helps me get better — having that constant edge and having that chip on my shoulder.”
The Jets took Smith in the second round of the 2013 NFL Draft, and he won the starting job last year by default when Mark Sanchez suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in the team’s third preseason game. Smith had an up-and-down rookie year, leading the team to five fourth-quarter comebacks or game-winning drives, but also going through a five-game stretch without a touchdown pass in the middle of the season.
Despite his shaky season, the feeling around the Jets this offseason was they had to ride it out with Smith to see if he can develop. The team added Vick to help mentor him and replace Smith if he stumbles. Idzik maintains there will be a competition, but it does not seem like anyone is buying it.
Even Jets players said they view Smith as the starter.
“That’s the way it’s been so far,” tight end Jeff Cumberland said. “Geno’s the starter, Vick’s the backup. How it goes through the season? That’s on the coaches to figure out who they want to play.”