The Jets have landed their new quarterback.
The team agreed to a one-year deal with veteran Josh McCown on Monday.
McCown visited the team over the weekend, with the team wining and dining him at Del Frisco’s in Manhattan on Saturday night. The deal is worth $6 million fully guaranteed, according to a source. It also has $2 million in play-time incentives and $5 million in team-based incentives.
The 37-year-old comes to the Jets after two years with the Browns, where he was 1-10 as the starter. The Jets had free agent Chase Daniel in for a visit Monday, but opted to sign McCown.
McCown, who turns 38 on July 4, can serve as a mentor to young Jets quarterbacks Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg while competing with them for the starting job.
The signing of McCown is not going to inspire a fan base that is watching the Jets beginning a painful rebuild after a 5-11 season. McCown is a journeyman who is 18-42 in his career and 2-20 over the last three years with the Browns and Buccaneers. The Jets will be McCown’s eighth team in 16 years. He replaces Ryan Fitzpatrick, who departs as a free agent after two seasons as the team’s starting quarterback, with 2016 being a terrible disappointment.
The Cowboys also had interest in McCown, who probably picked the Jets instead for a better chance to play. McCown has a good reputation around the NFL for being a good locker room presence. Former Jets wide receiver Brandon Marshall praised McCown last season before the Jets and McCown’s Browns played. Marshall and McCown were teammates with the Bears in 2012-13.
“That was our leader,” Marshall said in October. “He’s a stud. He led up; he led down. When he wasn’t starting in Chicago, he kept all the guys together, defense and offense. We had some big personalities there, including myself. At times we had egos. And he was the guy that kept us rolling.”
The incentives in McCown’s contract break down like this, according to a source: McCown will earn an additional $125,000 for each game he plays 50 percent of the snaps in. He also has an additional $2 million bonus if the team makes the playoffs, $1.5 million for reaching the Super Bowl and $1.5 million for winning the Super Bowl (with 65 percent playing time). It is safe to say the playoff-based incentives seem unlikely to be hit at the moment.
The Jets are in the midst of a total rebuild. They dumped several of their high-priced veteran players this winter, getting rid of Darrelle Revis, Nick Mangold and Marshall along with several others. They have been cautious in free agency — signing cornerback Morris Claiborne, tackle Kelvin Beachum, kicker Chandler Catanzaro and now McCown.
McCown is coming off a tough year with the Browns. He threw for 1,100 yards, six touchdowns and six interceptions in five games last year.
The signing ends the latest quarterback search for the Jets. They had targeted Mike Glennon at the beginning of free agency, but were not willing to pay as much as the Bears, who signed him to a deal that averages $14.5 million a year. They also looked at Brian Hoyer, who decided to go to the 49ers and new head coach Kyle Shanahan, who he had worked with in Cleveland. The Jets showed interest in Jay Cutler and ESPN reported Monday that Cutler was going to visit the team this week. That was before the Jets signed McCown.