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The Jets signed Josh McCown. Let me get into this. It’s an interesting move. Let’s break it down.
What do I think of the move?
I like the move, and let me tell you why.
I LOVE older quarterbacks as long as they are physically still in one piece, obviously.
No question McCown has had some injuries, but I don’t think any of them were skill depreciating.
The reason I love older quarterbacks is the position is so darn hard. Playing NFL QB might be the most difficult position in all of sports. It’s so, so hard – reading complex defensive schemes with a ton of disguises, throwing passes into much smaller windows than college, the best pass rushers on the planet trying to take your head off on every play, making line calls based on the defensive look. It’s like a Rubik’s Cube, a Rube Goldberg Machine.
This is why most young quarterbacks struggle so much. It’s overwhelming.
So when you look at guys like Drew Brees (37), Tom Brady (39) and Carson Palmer (37), there isn’t anything these guys haven’t seen. Same with McCown. I’m not saying McCown is on the level of Brees or Brady. I’m just saying from an experience standpoint, he’s in a great place right now. He is so high on the growth curve.
In the Jets season-opener in 2015, McCown was the Browns’ quarterback and he took Cleveland right down the field – an impressive opening drive, but then it ended by the goal-line when he got concussed. Johnny Manziel came in the game. But the drive was impressive. It showed a QB that knows what he’s doing.
Speaking of Manziel, it was thought that McCown would be a great mentor for the mercurial quarterback. That didn’t work out very well. It was flawed thinking by the Browns thinking that McCown could be a mentor for Manziel. He’s a quarterback, not a life-coach, not a substance counselor.
I think in general, this veteran QB mentor stuff is very overrated, and that applies to the Jets moving forward.
I’m sure the Jets brass is thinking that McCown can not only be a good starter for them in 2017, but also mentor their two young quarterbacks – Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg. I think he can be a good bridge starter, but I don’t think he’s going to have much of huge impact on the youngsters.
And it’s for different reasons than why he couldn’t help Manziel.
Bryce Petty struggled with pocket presence and reading defenses last year; not much McCown can do about either one of these issues. He just can’t. Mark Brunell couldn’t help Mark Sanchez with his pocket presence and field vision. Just like David Garrard couldn’t help Geno Smith. Either you have those things or you don’t. Hackenberg has accuracy problems. It will be a major upset if McCown can greatly improve Hackenberg’s accuracy. I’m not being negative. Just dealing with history and reality. McCown can help them with study habits, film study, handling the huddle and so forth. But those other matters, you are asking him too much.
But if he stays healthy, I think McCown can be a rock solid game-manager for the Jets this year.
I love older quarterbacks, if they still can physically do it.
March 20, 2017
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