The Jets are heading into the break with a quarterback battle looming.
That's what head coach Todd Bowles told NFL Network's Kimberly Jones on Thursday after the club's final mandatory minicamp practice.
"I don't look at anybody as the frontrunner," Bowles said, adding that reps were divided evenly between Josh McCown, Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg.
Bowles has always had a strange approach to the starting quarterback position. Whether that was saying Ryan Fitzpatrick was not going to be benched before benching him in 2016, or benching Fitzpatrick in the middle of a Monday Night Football game and not telling him that the switch was permanent, there hasn't always been a firm hand behind such decisions.
With such an integral season ahead, the youth-movementJets are delicately trying to navigate 16 games while thrusting their most inexperienced players into live action. Will it be bothersome that the team also has to deal with a three-way training camp battle for snaps?
While it would not be surprising to see Hackenberg, Petty and McCown all take snaps at some point this season, one has to wonder if Bowles is putting too many things on his plate for the month ahead. This will already be a tremendous undertaking for a coaching staff looking to elevate a slew of young, promising players. Now, they will have to do so while also entertaining passes from three potential starting quarterbacks.
Bowles took heat last season for essentially promising Fitzpatrick a starting job even while Fitzpatrick was holding out, so it's understandable that he would want to sidestep the potential pitfall by naming a starter too early. But is doing the complete opposite the correct answer?
