John Idzik is a true believer in open competition.
I think that’s great.
It’s the way it should be in any team sport.
But unfortunately, it’s often not the case because politics trump fair competition. That has gone on around the Jets too much the last few years.
While the teams’ release this week of QB Tim Tebow, along with OT D.J. Young, CB CLiff Harris and DE Claude Davis had nothing to do with competition, no system is perfect.
But let’s see what they do from this point on.
I think it’s very cool that Idzik is saying all five quarterbacks have a chance for the starting job. I don’t think I’ve ever covered a GM who would have the guts to say that before.
“Mark ([Sanchez] is in the competition,” Idzik said on ESPN Radio. “We fully expect it will help him get better. It’ll help David [Garrard] get better. It’ll help Greg [McElroy]. It’ll help Matt Simms. It’ll certainly help Geno [Smith].
Idzik comes from a Seattle Seahawks organization that fully embraces legitimate competition. They proved that last summer when they started rookie QB Russell Wilson over high-priced free agent addition Matt Flynn.
“There’s no limit to that philosophy, that’s going to apply to who will be the eventual starters,” Idzik said. “We don’t want any complacency. It will apply to niche players, it’ll apply to backup players and hopefully they’re aspiring to take that next step. There is going to be developmental type players that hopefully they’re aspiring to make the 53, there’s going to be special teams type players and hopefully they’re aspiring to play every down. So it’s going to be through and through, that’s what we mean by a general air of competition.”
This is a departure from the Jets’ recent past, and it’s going to be fun to watch.
