The New York Jets almost moved on from Geno Smith in favor of Washington Redskins quarterback Kirk Cousins earlier this offseason.
Back in January, the Jets were desperately searching for new leadership following four straight years of mediocrity under Rex Ryan. Owner Woody Johnson had two names at the top of his wish list: Dan Quinn and Todd Bowles. However, the NFL's stringent interview rules prevented Quinn from meeting with team officials for a second time until the Seattle Seahawks were eliminated from the playoffs or the bye week before the Super Bowl (whichever came first). With most available head coaching candidates set to sign long before then, the Jets were faced with a tough decision.
Quinn was highly coveted, but was also receiving significant interest from a handful of other teams, including the Atlanta Falcons. So without a guarantee from Quinn, the Jets opted for Bowles (who is not a consolation prize and figures to be a top notch coach in his own right). What Jets fans may not know is the ripple effect this move had on the team.
"Quinn's plan had he been hired by the Jets included adding offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan...," Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News wrote. "Shanahan's vision didn't include Smith, according to people familiar with the coordinator's thinking.
"Sources told the Daily News that the former Washington play-caller wanted to trade for former pupil Kirk cousins, who showed promise in two years under Shanahan. Cousins, stuck behind Robert Griffin III on the depth chart, was Shanahan's primary target to run his offense in New York."
That would have been interesting. Cousins is just 2-7 as a starter in his young career. Although he's shown an ability to move the chains and run Washington's offense effectively in spurts, he's been far too inconsistent to wrestle the starting job away from Griffin. For his career, Cousins has thrown an interception once every 21 pass attempts. For comparison, Smith has thrown a pick once in every 23 pass attempts in roughly double the workload.
"He'd be a middle-of-the-road starter right now," one NFC scout told Mehta of Cousins. "He has all the intangibles to ascend, but needs to make better decisions with the ball."
The comparisons are moot at this point as Bowles gave Smith new life before a broken jaw took him out of New York's plans.
What comes next for the Jets is anyone's guess.
