It is a bit odd. But I am sure there is a solid intent behind it, whatever that may be.
With Fitz assured of the #1 spot, does he basically sit out here? Most often, starters play Week 3 preseason games, and rest in the finale. But perhaps this is a way of seeing how Geno performs with and against first stringers. If he succeeds, he might land a sixth or seventh. If he fails, cut bait and go with Petty.
That is the only thing that makes sense to me.
Well here's Mehta's explanation for it
Jets coach Todd Bowles leaves door open for Bryce Petty to move ahead of Geno Smith on depth chart
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Sunday, August 21, 2016, 7:48 PM
Last week, Geno Smith took to Twitter to accuse the media of making up stories.
Now his head coach is the one stirring the pot.
When pressed about the status of the Jets' quarterback depth chart after Sunday's training camp practice, Todd Bowles was non-committal, deflecting questions instead of cementing a true pecking order as he did earlier this summer.
Obviously, Fitzpatrick remains the starter. But Bowles refused to divulge any information on how the rest of the group stacks up.
At the start of camp, Bowles made it clear Geno Smith was the backup, Bryce Petty was third-string and rookie Christian Hackenberg was fourth-string. But after Petty outplayed Smith in Friday's preseason loss to Washington - he threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns while Smith mustered just 47 yards passing with an interception - it appears Bowles is leaving the door open.
"Right now, they're all playing," Bowles said when asked if his quarterback depth chart remains the same. "And we're trying to see who sorts out what."
Saturday's preseason game against the Giants should be a strong indication of where the Jets stand with their quarterbacks. Both teams' starters will play a significant amount of time in what will be a dress rehearsal in the third preseason game for each side.
Bowles said Fitzpatrick and the Jets' first-team offense will play "a pretty good amount," likely all of the first half and possibly into the third quarter. But the coach would not say which quarterback is going to replace Fitzpatrick on Saturday.
"All of them have got to be up to play," Bowles said of his four signal-callers. "We've got a plan for the quarterbacks that we're not revealing, and Saturday, we'll play the guys that we have scheduled to play. But we do have a plan to play certain people."
When asked to clarify if Smith will be the second guy into Saturday's game, Bowles resorted to a similar answer.
"To be clear," Bowles said, "we have a plan on who we're going to play that we're not going to reveal."
If Smith is still the Jets' No. 2 quarterback, Bowles is going to great lengths to keep that a secret. Otherwise, the Gang Green coach is indicating that a legitimate position battle is in the works.
Geno Smith may be in danger of losing his role as backup quarterback.
Geno Smith may be in danger of losing his role as backup quarterback. (ROBERT SABO/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS)
In Sunday's practice, Smith was the first quarterback under center after Fitzpatrick in 11-v-11 drills, and he received considerably more reps than Petty.
Smith played close to 30 plays, while Petty played fewer than 15. Petty was the fourth quarterback to enter 11-v-11 drills.
Despite Petty's solid statistical performance in Friday's game, Bowles was quick to point out that the second-year man out of Baylor wasn't perfect.
"He'd like to have some throws back. He made some mistakes," Bowles said of Petty. "He made some good throws and he made some bad throws, too."
Bowles' analysis aside, Petty said he felt much more "comfortable" in Friday's game, an indication of his continued progress.
"I'm not as antsy in the pocket, I'm not as rushed in my thought process, which is all good," Petty said. "So I've just got to continue to build off of that and continue to become more and more comfortable, and that's through preparation, that's through film time and practice time and all that good stuff."
By comparison, Smith was a disaster on Friday, throwing more incompletions than completions while posting a 23.6 quarterback rating on 13 passing attempts.
Bowles said he must take into account Smith's full body of work when evaluating the one-time Jets starter.
"It's a combination. It's a progression (for) all the quarterbacks and all the positions - how much you've done in the past, what you've done in camp, as well as the preseason games," Bowles said. "You've got to evaluate all that for everybody."
If Bowles' comments are any indication, that evaluation has not been positive for Geno Smith
