With all the recent talk about the contractual status of Jets rookie quarterback Sam Darnold, one key fact likely has gone overlooked: Josh McCown continues to be QB1 in New York.
“Josh is one, Teddy [Bridgewater] is two, Sam is three right now,” coach Todd Bowles told reporters on Monday. “That’s what I can tell you.”
As to the notion that McCown’s status puts him in better position to mentor the other quarterbacks on the roster, Bowles made it clear that McCown is wired to mentor, regardless of his status.
“He mentors the defensive line, he mentors the safeties, so I don’t understand what that means, but he helps everybody out,” Bowles said. “Josh is one and I don’t know what else to tell you. They have to beat him out.”
With Darnold missing several days of practice, he may not be able to quickly close the gap.
“The competition has been underway, it didn’t just start today, it started on Thursday when we reported for camp,” Bowles said. "[Darnold] has got some work to catch up and do so, throughout the course of preseason that will take care of itself and we’ll go from there.”
Some believe that Bowles would prefer to go with a veteran like McCown or Bridgewater, in the hopes of winning enough games to return for 2019, and that the front office would like to get Darnold on the field in an effort to prove that G.M. Mike Maccagnan picked the right guy for the long haul. There’s also a belief that the team would like to trade Bridgewater, a potential outcome that would likely hinge on a starter with another team suffering an injury.