Are the Jets giving up on Bryce Petty too soon?

by Site Admin

With Josh McCown seemingly entrenched as the starter and Christian Hackenberg being the young project getting all of the attention, it seems Bryce Petty is on the outside looking in as the Jets' quarterback competition progresses towards training camp.

Petty started four games last year, although he was knocked out of the last one after throwing just three passes.

"We need to see what Petty can do!" claimed a large section of the fanbase, impervious to any concerns that starting him before he was ready could stunt his development. Eventually, later than many hoped, Petty finally got his shot and 133 passes later we've apparently seen enough.

There's already talk that Petty is the "odd man out" and even some suggestions he won't even make it onto the final roster.

But why should we believe that what Petty showed last year was anything close to the finished article? It was anticipated that he'd take at least a couple of years to be ready to start and here he is, ahead of schedule, starting games halfway through his second season.

Was he good? No. Was he so terrible that you'd give up on him ever being good? I don't think so. He even won one of his starts. And he definitely progressed from year one to year two.

Petty's college coach Art Briles felt that Petty had first round talent, but ironically it was Briles' system that was the reason for his slide into the fourth round.

In the pre-draft process, the Saints were one team who were reportedly considering taking Petty in the first round but they, along with other teams were scared off by reports of just how raw his knowledge of pro-style quarterbacking was.

Unlike Marcus Mariota, who came out of a similar system, Petty essentially had no understanding of how to read coverages, set protections or even identify the "Mike". He would draw derision on twitter when he claimed that playing "Madden" during the offseason was helping him to learn these concepts.

So, entering the draft everyone knew Petty was unlikely to be a quick study, but many still felt he had enough ability to be considered as the third best quarterback in the draft

In addition to Bedard's article above, which concludes that both Hundley and Petty would require time but that Petty could be good sooner if he can fix a technical flaw, Todd McShay was also high on him, preaching patience and suggesting his ideal path to success:

Invoking Rodgers here is almost asking to be ridiculed down the road, but McShay's point is not without merit. Other good quarterbacks like John Elway, Eli Manning, Alex Smith and Chad Pennington either sat for a while or struggled at first.

The difference is that all of these guys were drafted over a decade ago and times have changed since then.

Conclusions

The Jets handling of Petty is part of a worrying trend around the league. Many teams need a better quarterback, but few have the patience to develop one. With shorter careers, smaller windows of contention and increased media pressure to keep making changes, you need to succeed early like a Russell Wilson or a Dak Prescott, or make the most of a second chance like a Tyrod Taylor.

Gone (or at least disappearing) are the days of developing a quarterback until they are ready to step in, not least because teams are under increasing pressure to ready themselves for the season but have limited practice time to get everyone the reps they need to develop.

Maybe someone like Brett Hundley or Jimmy Garropolo will break that trend soon, but those are two players who have the luxury of sitting behind two of the best starters in the league. Maybe Petty would be in the same situation right now if the Saints had picked him up to be Drew Brees' understudy.

The draft experts were right about Petty - and Hundley ... and Hackenberg. They need(ed) time. However, unless the teams are prepared to give them that time, then there's probably no longer any point on spending a draft pick or investing too much hope into a player of this type.

Maybe the Jets had every intention of being patient with Petty but have been so underwhelmed with how easily he's grasping things that they're ready to move on. However, if they're expecting instant results and moving on to the next shiny object as soon as that doesn't happen then I wouldn't hold out much hope for Hackenberg's path along the learning curve either.