Too Late for Jets About-Face on Fitz?

[peekskill68]

1 hour ago, CrazyCarl40 said:

Oh, and you're like the 100th person to say this but doesn't make you any less wrong, but Mo's contract can be done and done without having to cut anyone or not signing Fitz, or any other viable competition (eventual starter) QB. The money for Mo is already there, the desire to sign him doesn't seem to be. So, stop perpetuating myths. 

 

You're right about Mo. Clearly there is a value difference between his people and the Jets FO regardless of cap space.  

[FidelioJet]

4 hours ago, Rangers9 said:

The problem is they want Fitz but not for one year but for 3. And the deal is kind of deceptive. They claim they are paying Fitz 12 mil for the first season. Which is below average starter's money. But the proviso is for year's 2 and 3 at backup pay.And it's strictly a package deal: no year 1 if he doesn't sign for year's 2 and 3.Which doesn't say a lot for their confidence in him. Plus it gives Mac and Woody an insurance policy if none of those guys develops into a starter. (And at low pay unless the incentives kick in.We don't know if these are tough to earn incentives or easy to earn incentives. Tough to earn would be making the playoffs, Super Bowl, Pro Bowl, etc.) I don't know about you but I've never seen a contract structured like this. btw when the Jets leaked the specifics of the deal they conveniently didn't mention years 2 and 3. All they told the press was one year 12 mil. Which sounds pretty good and something Fitz would agree to. So as long as they insist on their insurance policy I don't think he's going to sign that deal. If they are willing to back off and negotiate a one year contract with him (or sweeten the 3 year deal) they could sign him today. But it seems like Mac is more interested in covering his ass then signing the guy. This as Mac and Woody know could really backfire on both of them. As for showing interest in other Qbs they did bring in several guys but decided not to offer them contracts. So they did do that but didn't really want to go the final step on it. If Fitz is back they have enough Qbs. 

I think the thought process here is - he's the starter this year, so they're giving him low level starter money but they don't expect him to start in year 2..so he's getting quality back up money.

[Rangers9]

21 minutes ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

And maybe Mac knows exactly what he is doing and is reading the non existing market for Fitzpatrick brilliantly.. We don't have the cap, and dont want to push more cap onto next yr by restructuring players who may be on their way out next yr.. So yes we can't break the bank.. Fitz was extremely lucky he got the chance to play last yr.. After an absolutely terrible performance in the biggest game we had in yrs ( buf ) he should be a little more humble in the ONLY starting job he is being offered.. 

Mac has little experience dealing with the cap or contracts. It's obvious the way he spent most of it in one year esp on one player. And there's a lot of ways to finance that deal and not kill the cap. Plus a one year deal for under 12 is do-able. Jimmy Sexton has a lot more experience in this kind of work than Mac has. You don't all of a sudden play hardball with your starting Qb unless you don't care if the guy comes back. If that's the case let him walk. 

[Rangers9]

1 minute ago, FidelioJet said:

I think the thought process here is - he's the starter this year, so they're giving him low level starter money but they don't expect him to start in year 2..so he's getting quality back up money.

Well he obviously doesn't think he's going to be a backup. Or wants to be tied into a backup contract. He just got off of one and doesn't want to be under the control of the org. I think he wants to have the independence to negotiate his own deal. Mac is just trying to cover his ass. it's so obvious it's not funny. 

[FidelioJet]

1 minute ago, Rangers9 said:

Well he obviously doesn't think he's going to be a backup. Or wants to be tied into a backup contract. He just got off of one and doesn't want to be under the control of the org. I think he wants to have the independence to negotiate his own deal. Mac is just trying to cover his ass. it's so obvious it's not funny. 

What are his other options.  He's going to leave $15mm guaranteed on the table?  Of course he's going to sign the deal.  My guess is the Jets could cut the deal in half and he would still have very little choice but to sign.  They won't do that, but Fitz has very little choice.

[Jetsplayer21]

19 minutes ago, Rangers9 said:

Mac has little experience dealing with the cap or contracts. It's obvious the way he spent most of it in one year esp on one player. And there's a lot of ways to finance that deal and not kill the cap. Plus a one year deal for under 12 is do-able. Jimmy Sexton has a lot more experience in this kind of work than Mac has. You don't all of a sudden play hardball with your starting Qb unless you don't care if the guy comes back. If that's the case let him walk. 

Jimmy can think he is better at this, doesn't matter if he was Scott Boris.. A agent can't force something when there is no play.. And wouldn't you rather have fitz on the current 3 yr deal offer than a one year deal ? We don't know if hackenberg will be ready.. I know fitz would prefer a one year deal.. But we want what is best for the jets not Fitzpatrick right ?

[Rangers9]

9 minutes ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

Jimmy can think he is better at this, doesn't matter if he was Scott Boris.. A agent can't force something when there is no play.. And wouldn't you rather have fitz on the current 3 yr deal offer than a one year deal ? We don't know if hackenberg will be ready.. I know fitz would prefer a one year deal.. But we want what is best for the jets not Fitzpatrick right ?

Jimmy is better and much more experienced. It's not just all about Mac and what's best for him and Woody. Apparently they don't think there will be no market. Things can change fast. Look at all of the Qb injuries last season. And they can knock you right out of a playoff run. Negotiating means both teams give up something. Even if one side at least for now is in the driver's seat. 

[Jetsplayer21]

18 minutes ago, Rangers9 said:

Jimmy is better and much more experienced. It's not just all about Mac and what's best for him and Woody. Apparently they don't think there will be no market. Things can change fast. Look at all of the Qb injuries last season. And can knock you right out of a playoff run. Negotiating means both teams give up something. Even if one side at least for now is in the driver's seat. 

Lol any dummy can get Brady a nice contract.. The best agent in history couldn't help fitz current situation.. It won't be sexton' fault at all that fitz doesn't get what he wants.. He can't force a team to pay.. Obviously mac does know what he is doing, he has not panicked at all and is letting fitz/sexton paint themselves into a corner.. Yes injuries can happen.. That doesn't mean a team will automatically choose to pick up fitz, instead of going with their current #2 who has been training with the system all summer. Are you implying fitz is going to sit out training camp and A) wait for an injury, and B ) hope that team wants to sign fitz ?  Jets are likely going to move on if fitz doesn't sign by training camp.. Decker and the players have said they want to move on by then. Fitz isn't stupid, he isn't going to leave his only real option on the table for the complete unknown.. He has the perfect setup with gailey, Marshall/decker.. If anything he caves and signs the deal and maybe holds out next yr..traded maybe..  He has no other real option.. He will sign by start of camp 

[Mainejet]

Fitz very clearly gives us our best chance at winning in 2016. If the CS decides to go with Geno Smith jobs will be on the line with that decision. I, for one, object to the idea of having Geno Smith. He has been given multiple chances for which he sucked each and every time. He also did something very stupid that caused a lot of embarrassment for my favorite team. This current FO should not have any loyalty to the creep.

It is these reasons that I hope the Jets can manage to get Fitz to resign. This will not be a very good season anyway, but the only way this current FO retains their good reputation is persuade Fitz to resign.

[Jetsplayer21]

8 minutes ago, Mainejet said:

Fitz very clearly gives us our best chance at winning in 2016. If the CS decides .to go with Geno Smith jobs will be on the line with that decision I, for one, object to the idea of having Geno Smith. He has been given multiple chances for which he sucked each and every time. He also did something very stupid that caused a lot of embarrassment for my favorite team. This current FO should not have any loyalty to the creep.

It is these reasons that I hope the Jets can manage to get Fitz to resign. This will not be a very good season anyway, but the only way this current FO retains their good reputation is persuade Fitz to resign.

This is yours and only your opinion.. It is not even close to being reality.. Woody is very pleased with the turnaround of the jets. Mac and Bowles work great together. Both of HUGE upgrades over the past HC, gms. Woody would laugh at that presumption that Mac's job is on the line.. Woody stands behind mac in not giving in to fitz.. The have by far the best offer on the table for fitz.. I'm sure woody is not pleased with fitzdrama. He is the main reason why we lost the game that would have got us in the playoffs.. If woody loved fitz so much, he could easily lean on Mac and say " get it done " woody is very involved, and everyone says he loves Bowles and Mac.. 

[Mainejet]

3 minutes ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

This is yours and only your opinion.. It is not even close to being reality.. Woody is very pleased with the turnaround of the jets. Mac and Bowles work great together. Both of HUGE upgrades over the past HC, gms. Woody would laugh at that presumption that Mac's job is on the line.. Woody stands behind mac in not giving in to fitz.. The have by far the best offer on the table for fitz.. I'm sure woody is not pleased with fitzdrama. He is the main reason why we lost the game that would have got us in the playoffs.. If woody loved fitz so much, he could easily lean on Mac and say " get it done " woody is very involved, and everyone says he loves Bowles and Mac.. 

I'm not denying  any of this, and truthfully Mac and Bowles job probably would not be lost as a result of starting Geno, but it would start a fire storm of sh*t and criticism that would not soon go away. If they mess up again? They would still be talking about their gaffe pertaining to Fitz. It would probably be one of the main reasons why they got fired whenever that happened. It would most certainly change peoples opinions of them right now. The honeymoon would certainly be over and people would start to tee off on their every move.

[Jetsplayer21]

9 minutes ago, Mainejet said:

I'm not denying  any of this, and truthfully Mac and Bowles job probably would not be lost as a result of starting Geno, but it would start a fire storm of sh*t and criticism that would not soon go away. If they mess up again? They would still be talking about their gaffe pertaining to Fitz. It would probably be one of the main reasons why they got fired whenever that happened. It would most certainly change peoples opinions of them right now. The honeymoon would certainly be over and people would start to tee off on their every move.

I think if Mac said today " we prefer geno " sure he would be betting HEAVY on geno.. But that is not the case.. They are attempting to sign fitz, I think many blame fitz for being a diva so it's not on Mac of the team votes fitz out if he does not sign a deal by training camp.. We are not Super bowl contenders, with or without fitz.. Fitz still has not proven he can get a team to the playoffs.. I think fitz thing takes a back seat to the Mo situation.. If we lose him, after this year, and don't get much in return.. People won't like that.. Knowing they could have locked Mo up last yr at a decent deal.. Now DLs price tag is way up.. 

[nycdan]

7 hours ago, AFJF said:

Exactly.  They'd be nuts to have Petty and Hack as their only backups.

At first I was inclined to agree.  Then I thought, if Geno is the best QB on our roster and he goes down, does it really matter if the next guy in is a journeyman vet or a young unknown?  I can't see it making much difference in terms of making the post-season.  So why not roll with the young guys and if they have to play, so be it. 

[AFJF]

Just now, nycdan said:

At first I was inclined to agree.  Then I thought, if Geno is the best QB on our roster and he goes down, does it really matter if the next guy in is a journeyman vet or a young unknown?  I can't see it making much difference in terms of making the post-season.  So why not roll with the young guys and if they have to play, so be it. 

You're 100% correct from a practical standpoint, but does the FO really want to risk having the veterans in the LR watching the team win 3 games despite all the talent on the roster?  You then risk creating a toxic environment next season.  Not sure I've ever seen a team with a win now/build for the future philosophy going on simultaneously but that's what the Jets have built.  You don't put together a potential top-3 defense only to assemble a bottom-3 offense IMO.

[#27TheDominator]

I do not think Mike Glennon is going to get a starting job anywhere next year.  Best case he goes to a team drafting at the top and hoping to let the rook sit.  If teams believed he was a starter they would have pried him away by now.  If he were that much of a starter he would have shot his way out of Tampa.  They guy is getting paid peanuts and sh*t starters are getting $12M.

[Mainejet]

37 minutes ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

I think if Mac said today " we prefer geno " sure he would be betting HEAVY on geno.. But that is not the case.. They are attempting to sign fitz, I think many blame fitz for being a diva so it's not on Mac of the team votes fitz out if he does not sign a deal by training camp.. We are not Super bowl contenders, with or without fitz.. Fitz still has not proven he can get a team to the playoffs.. I think fitz thing takes a back seat to the Mo situation.. If we lose him, after this year, and don't get much in return.. People won't like that.. Knowing they could have locked Mo up last yr at a decent deal.. Now DLs price tag is way up.. 

I don't disagree with most of what you are saying. I do think New Yorkers in general find Fitz much more tasteful because he's an intelligent guy, people feel as though he could be viewed as a role model for their children, he was legitimately a good QB last season, and most of all, he's NOT Geno Smith. It is for those reasons they want Fitz and the vast majority of Jets fans, adults and children alike, do not want anything to do with Geno Smith.

But you also bring up another reason for the potential start of Geno to come back to bite Mac/Bowles in the A$$. If Geno starts and he starts playing like he always did? They will heavily criticize the decision to start Geno and burn Fitz. They will simultaneously start heavily criticizing Mac/Bowles for not trading Mo when they had the chance. Whether or not it's true, is not important, they will still criticize Mac's inability to trade a premier player in his prime for something more than a 3rd round compensatory pick. EVERYONE knows he's worth at least a 2nd rounder in this last draft. I personally believe he's worth a 1st given his age and statistics, but it seemed like Mac could not find a buyer given Mo's expectations in the line of a contract, but for a 2nd everyone would think he should have been able to trade him.

That's just adding more fuel to the criticism of the current front office. The honeymoon will DEFINITELY be over.

[jetsfan719]

I have laid off these threads for awhile now due to this unbearable offseason, i cant believe we are still talking about the same thing less then a week away from 4th of july. Smh i have no excitement whatsoever for this upcoming season. This fitz saga has gotten old and the thought of seeing geno throw his first pick makes me wana lose my mind. Why does being a jet fan have to be so torturous

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Maxman]

12 hours ago, Beerfish said:

This off season is like being put on the rack.  A team once again with no really good long term starter and we have to suffer through the drama of who is our choice of best from a bad lot.

Or does this have the makings of the BEST DISNEY MOVIE EVER.

Think about it....

[Maxman]

8 hours ago, RutgersJetFan said:

I have no idea what to do with Geno, but the idea that this franchise would hand him the starting job for a fourth year in a row to see yet again if he can be the guy...I don't know. It's just insane to think that we've sacrificed multiple years, again, on a guy that clearly isn't the guy and we're going for yet another round. Almost 20 years of this now since Vinny. It's like one GM is just a poorly conceived clone of the last one.

Or is this GM a different clone that just looks the same. And because of his different cloneness he puts the Jets in THE BEST DISNEY MOVIE EVER.

Think about it....

[Raideraholic]

5 hours ago, Jetsplayer21 said:

Lol any dummy can get Brady a nice contract.. The best agent in history couldn't help fitz current situation.. It won't be sexton' fault at all that fitz doesn't get what he wants.. He can't force a team to pay.. Obviously mac does know what he is doing, he has not panicked at all and is letting fitz/sexton paint themselves into a corner.. Yes injuries can happen.. That doesn't mean a team will automatically choose to pick up fitz, instead of going with their current #2 who has been training with the system all summer. Are you implying fitz is going to sit out training camp and A) wait for an injury, and B ) hope that team wants to sign fitz ?  Jets are likely going to move on if fitz doesn't sign by training camp.. Decker and the players have said they want to move on by then. Fitz isn't stupid, he isn't going to leave his only real option on the table for the complete unknown.. He has the perfect setup with gailey, Marshall/decker.. If anything he caves and signs the deal and maybe holds out next yr..traded maybe..  He has no other real option.. He will sign by start of camp 

Ryan Fitzpatrick isn't stupid he sees the Jets first 7 games( brutal schedule) .    Going to be very tough to get off to a good start next year Regardless of who the Qb is.( I don't think he's going to cave and sign with the Jets unless he gets close to what he wants).   

Now imagine the pressure on the Jets GM after each loss ( there was no guarantee they would have won if Fitzpatrick was the Qb).  What is the perception of Woody Johnson about this team?( coming off a ten win season, does he expect the Jets to be a playoff team in 2016).    Will Macc take the fall if Woody Johnson blames him for this season( assuming it a lost one- that he played chicken with the team starting Qb).

Ryan Fitzpatrick can start again in this league if the Jets have a down season .  ( he wasn't at the controls) He's finished as a starter in the Nfl, if he comes in and struggles this year.

[Hitman Harris]

9 hours ago, Larz said:

someone needs to slap the coffee out of maccagnans hands

This kind of stuff makes me think some Jet fans just want to see the team perpetually in the bottom of a "rebuild" but don't actually wanna follow it through. 

The guy has done nothing that warrants being on the hot seat... Except making the Jets a little too good in his 1st season as GM. They fixed the offense overnight. I'd rather not see Woody fire him for some new rookie GM from the Jags rank because nobody in their right mind would take this musical chairs job. 

[FTL Jet Fan]

If we do sign a Vet I would obviously want Glennon, but that is not going to happen. I would prefer Foles for a late round pick maybe Gailey can get him back to the QB he was in Philly, which is a big if. I have no faith in Geno at all, its obvious the coaching staff does not either. This has to be the most dreadful offfseason in a long time.

[Mike135]

7 minutes ago, FTL Jet Fan said:

If we do sign a Vet I would obviously want Glennon, but that is not going to happen. I would prefer Foles for a late round pick maybe Gailey can get him back to the QB he was in Philly, which is a big if. I have no faith in Geno at all, its obvious the coaching staff does not either. This has to be the most dreadful offfseason in a long time.

If Fitz is signed, I'd agree.  It'd mean paying big for almost guaranteed failure.

But if Macc doesn't sign Fitz, tough to complain about what will be the end result of this offseason.  Even if all of it has been spent with Captain Mediocre lurking just a signature away.  Forte, revamped LB corps, and another young QB to take a shot with.  All with really no losses.

No Fitz?  Agreed, the process of the offseason has been horrible living with the possibility of Jets paying big for Fitz.  But so long as we don't, the end result of the offseason is pretty good.

With Fitz?  Yup.  Dreadful offseason.  Though there's been worse recently.  Things like Tebow and deciding not to spend 50mil come to mind.

[shawn306]

I am soooooo sick of this. Either sign Fitz or let me move on to the hockey season.

[drdetroit]

18 hours ago, JiF said:

I'd rather see Geno Smith, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg than any of those bums.  Just like Fitzpatrick, they do absolutely nothing to advance the franchise.  Except maybe Glennon and that's not going to happen. 

So yeah, ride or die with who you've got and call it day.  Fitz and bums like this are just a huge waste of everyone's time. 

Agree.  There's no one available that's even remotely semi-decent.

 

 

[drdetroit]

16 hours ago, Big Blocker said:

I remain mystified why the Jet FO did not make a big show of interest in some of these guys at a minimum to gain leverage over Fitz and his agent.  And on the financial side some would be better deals than Fitz and the money they are talking about.  I understand how say someone like Foles is hard to gauge what he would do, and McCown seems a bit fragile.  But the approach the FO has taken is simply not working.

There's still time, but really....   This off season has not been at all fun.

They played that game.  They pretended to want Hoyer a couple months ago and Fitz's agent called their bluff because everyone knows Hoyer is terrible

 

McCown and Foles are even worse than Hoyer. I'm not a Petty guy but i would rather give him a shot than any of those clowns

 

[Rangers9]

To me this entire impasse smacks of Woody. Just the way the immediate signing of Revis after he was released by NEP last year for way over the market money. He wanted Revis back not because he likes the guy but to deflect criticism of himself after a disastrous 4-12 season. We don't know the inside story on this but my guess is that Woody and some other owners are trying to keep prices down maybe not of stars but other players on the roster. Some of them might have read the riot act to Woody after the irrational signing of Revis on his first day in free agency last year. Just a theory but hard to believe this is solely on Mac a second year GM. I mean the consequences are he gets fired and Woody stays, 

 

[Warfish]

1 hour ago, Mike135 said:

If Fitz is signed, I'd agree.  It'd mean paying big for almost guaranteed failure.

But if Macc doesn't sign Fitz, tough to complain about what will be the end result of this offseason.  Even if all of it has been spent with Captain Mediocre lurking just a signature away.  Forte, revamped LB corps, and another young QB to take a shot with.  All with really no losses.

No Fitz?  Agreed, the process of the offseason has been horrible living with the possibility of Jets paying big for Fitz.  But so long as we don't, the end result of the offseason is pretty good.

With Fitz?  Yup.  Dreadful offseason.  Though there's been worse recently.  Things like Tebow and deciding not to spend 50mil come to mind.

How will you feel if Geno leads the Jets to a 5 win season this year, out of curiosity?

To go from 10 wins and competitive to 5 wins and not.  Will you still be happy we chose not to pay any QB's?  Will you still believe it was the right thing to do to "give Geno a fair chance" so we could "see what we got" in Geno, and finally "put some talent around him"? 

The "go with Geno" option is only legitimate if you believe Geno will win more games, throw more TD's and overall play much better than Fitz would.  Cap arguments are just red herrings, because Fitz (or some other hypothetical FA QB we could have signed but didn't) wouldn't have cost us any players of material value, and the team would have figured it all out, they always do (as does every NFL team for their QB).

So tell me, if we have a 5 win, 20+ INT season from Geno, will you still believe this was a good offseason, that we went the right direction, that the team is making progress, etc?  Or no?

[faba]

The drama of the jets never ends with this-can we just start training camp already

[drdetroit]

9 minutes ago, Warfish said:

How will you feel if Geno leads the Jets to a 5 win season this year, out of curiosity?

To go from 10 wins and competitive to 5 wins and not.  Will you still be happy we chose not to pay any QB's?  Will you still believe it was the right thing to do to "give Geno a fair chance" so we could "see what we got" in Geno, and finally "put some talent around him"? 

The "go with Geno" option is only legitimate if you believe Geno will win more games, throw more TD's and overall play much better than Fitz would.  Cap arguments are just red herrings, because Fitz (or some other hypothetical FA QB we could have signed but didn't) wouldn't have cost us any players of material value, and the team would have figured it all out, they always do (as does every NFL team for their QB).

So tell me, if we have a 5 win, 20+ INT season from Geno, will you still believe this was a good offseason, that we went the right direction, that the team is making progress, etc?  Or no?

Hate to break it to you the jets can go 5-11 or worse with Fitz

[Rangers9]

Look, there is no guarantee that Geno will be terrible. As a matter of fact he should improve. He had a year on the bench to see things and has had a chance to better learn the offense with Fitz out so far. But you don't flip a coin on a starting Qb and say we hope he improves and has a good season,. You go with your BAP esp at the Qb position esp after that guy and the offense had a good year in 2015. Again my point is we have a good chance to be very competitive in 2016. We might not have this opportunity in the near future again. With a better roster and confidence from last season. It's a question of mathematics and probability. Which Qb gives us our best chance to win. Everything except irrational hatred points to Fitz. 

[Mike135]

18 minutes ago, Warfish said:

How will you feel if Geno leads the Jets to a 5 win season this year, out of curiosity?

Disappointed we didn't make the playoffs, but is that really anything new?

18 minutes ago, Warfish said:

To go from 10 wins and competitive to 5 wins and not.  Will you still be happy we chose not to pay any QB's?  Will you still believe it was the right thing to do to "give Geno a fair chance" so we could "see what we got" in Geno, and finally "put some talent around him"? 

Absolutely.  Because I know Fitz is not the answer.  As much as you could possibly "know" anyways.  11 years is a good barometer.

18 minutes ago, Warfish said:

The "go with Geno" option is only legitimate if you believe Geno will win more games, throw more TD's and overall play much better than Fitz would.  Cap arguments are just red herrings, because Fitz (or some other hypothetical FA QB we could have signed but didn't) wouldn't have cost us any players of material value, and the team would have figured it all out, they always do (as does every NFL team for their QB).

Not true.  Though I do think Geno will outperform Fitz.  If he doesn't, that's still better than paying for mediocrity and not seeing what we have with the younger guys. 

18 minutes ago, Warfish said:

So tell me, if we have a 5 win, 20+ INT season from Geno, will you still believe this was a good offseason, that we went the right direction, that the team is making progress, etc?  Or no?

Yes.  For the reasons stated above.  Fitz is a waste of time.  As a backup for 5mil or less... Sign me up!  Anything over that is a step backward for the team.

[Rangers9]

2 minutes ago, Mike135 said:

Disappointed we didn't make the playoffs, but is that really anything new?

Absolutely.  Because I know Fitz is not the answer.  As much as you could possibly "know" anyways.  11 years is a good barometer.

Not true.  Though I do think Geno will outperform Fitz.  If he doesn't, that's still better than paying for mediocrity and not seeing what we have with the younger guys. 

Yes.  For the reasons stated above.  Fitz is a waste of time.  As a backup for 5mil or less... Sign me up!  Anything over that is a step backward for the team.

You speak for yourself and a very small minority of Jets fans. None of us expects to go from 10Ws to 5 and would accept that with a lesser Qb. This is not a rebuilding year. You say you "think" Geno will outperform Fitz but almost nobody agrees with you. And it's not supposed to be based on theory but on fact. We had our best offense in years last season. Yours is not a winning strategy. It's a same old Jets strategy. 

[Mike135]

17 minutes ago, drdetroit said:

Hate to break it to you the jets can go 5-11 or worse with Fitz

Bingo.

[JohnnyLV]

11 minutes ago, Warfish said:

How will you feel if Geno leads the Jets to a 5 win season this year, out of curiosity?

To go from 10 wins and competitive to 5 wins and not.  Will you still be happy we chose not to pay any QB's?  Will you still believe it was the right thing to do to "give Geno a fair chance" so we could "see what we got" in Geno, and finally "put some talent around him"? 

The "go with Geno" option is only legitimate if you believe Geno will win more games, throw more TD's and overall play much better than Fitz would.  Cap arguments are just red herrings, because Fitz (or some other hypothetical FA QB we could have signed but didn't) wouldn't have cost us any players of material value, and the team would have figured it all out, they always do (as does every NFL team for their QB).

So tell me, if we have a 5 win, 20+ INT season from Geno, will you still believe this was a good offseason, that we went the right direction, that the team is making progress, etc?  Or no?

Dumb premise. He would not complete the season if he was playing that poorly. But the reality is that the Jets would be better off truly knowing what they have in Geno before letting him walk. There is no question Geno could win more games throw more TDs and play better than Fitz, he is dramatically more talented and athletic. The real question is why has he performed so poorly? Was it a function of newness to a pro offense, mismatched OC and lack of weapons at skill positions or does he fundamentally lack the ability from a game perspective to play well regardless of scheme, and talent. If it were the latter, Fitz or some veteran would already be here. The flip side of that is that if Fitz would so clearly win more games than Geno he would already be signed already. But he's not, and the fact is that the Jets simply do not know, definitively about either player. Bowles wants Fitz, that is clear, but Mac will only bring in Fitz under certain parameters. And he has seriously softened on that stance throughout camp. And by all accounts Geno played well enough through OTAs to suggest he could have a breakout year,

The Jets staff is not dumb, they likely realize that the first 6 games are brutal, and will be difficult for either QB. 

The reality is the Jets QB situation is extremely murky and either decision is loaded with uncertainty. They are choosing between a backup level journeyman that is highly unlikely to come close to the same production, to a fourth year highly talented QB that has never proven he can make it in the NFL, but has franchise QB level skills.

An equally valid question to your initial premise is what if Fitz is signed and leads the Jets to a 5 win season and you still know nothing about Geno? Then we go into next season with Hackenberg and Petty and some new veteran, and we have made no progress at the position.

Anyone who thinks we are poised for a 10 win playoff season with Fitz starting is just ignoring reality.