The New York Jets suffered a major loss on Tuesday afternoon as it is being reported that Geno Smith has broken his jaw in a locker room altercation. Smith will reportedly miss 6-10 weeks as the injury will require surgery, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN.
Smith was reportedly in an altercation with linebacker IK Enemkpali that was non-football related on Tuesday morning that will sideline the Jets quarterback for at least a few weeks of the regular season. As a result Enemkpali was released immediately by the Jets. Todd Bowles made these announcements during a briefing with the press.
Enemkpali is a 6 foot-1 260 pound linebacker that reportedly was not happy with Smith putting his finger in his face during an argument which caused him to throw the punch that broke Smith's jaw in two places. The Jets drafted him in the 6th round in the 2014 NFL Draft out of Louisiana Tech and he played in six games for the Jets last season but only recorded 3 tackles. Enemkpali had been arrested back in 2011 for disturbing the peace and battery of a police officer following an incident while he was in college, according to NFL.com.
Smith was expected to be the Jets starting quarterback this season and they were expecting a huge step forward from him now that he has legitimate weapons on offense including Brandon Marshall, Eric Decker and Chris Ivory. With Smith going down the Jets will likely turn to Ryan Fitzpatrick as their quarterback to begin the season. The Jets traded for Fitzpatrick this offseason to be Smith's backup and compete with him in training camp but now he will be thrust into the starting position. Throughout his career Fitzpatrick has struggled with turnovers as he has 125 turnovers in 89 career starts.
Smith's career has gotten off to a bumpy start as he has also struggled with turnovers but he is still just 24 and the Jets see a lot of potential in their 2013 second round pick. This will not only hurt the Jets this season as they will be without their starting quarterback for a few weeks but it could also hinder Smith's development as the Jets franchise quarterback.
