The New York Jets used a fourth round pick (103rd overall) on quarterback Bryce Petty out of Baylor. When they drafted him, the Jets figured he wouldn't be ready to start after one training camp, but they were hopeful he could develop into a solid quarterback down the road. It is still possible that Petty could develop into a solid quarterback, but as of right now he hasn't been impressive, according to Rich Cimini of ESPN New York.
Jets offensive coordinator Chan Gailey was asked about Petty's progress so far, and although he wasn't pleased with it he did say he thinks that he will get where he needs to be. "I don't like where he is, but I like where he's headed," said Gailey.
As the Jets approach their week one game against the Cleveland Browns, Petty will be the backup quarterback behind Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick is the starter because of a broken jaw that Geno Smith suffered during training camp. It is not known when Smith will be back, but until then Petty will be the backup. The Jets did have Josh Johnson and Matt Flynn earlier but they decided to go with Petty as the number two for the beginning of the season, so if anything happens to Fitzpatrick in the first couple of weeks Petty will be thrown right into the fire.
Petty put up great numbers in his time at Baylor, but many football people describe the Bears' offensive system as the furthest thing from an NFL-style system. Petty played in spread offenses against mostly vanilla defenses in college, so the learning curve is pretty big to the NFL and his slow development shouldn't be much of a surprise.
The most surprising part of this report was that Cimini wrote that it would be "an awfully big leap of faith" to put Petty in contention for the starting job in 2016. Fitzpatrick will be a free agent after this year, and unless he has a really good year he will likely be gone, so it will come down to Smith versus Petty. The Jets could always look to add another veteran from outside the organization for next season, but it is surprising that Petty is already considered a long shot for the starting job next season.
