Rex Ryan's protégé laid out a timetable for his quarterback competition in Cleveland. Ryan is taking a more open-ended approach with his own QB battle.
The sixth-year New York Jets coach told reporters on Wednesday in Cortland, New York, there's no hard timeline for the competition between Geno Smith and Michael Vick.
"I love the fact that we have a competition," Ryan said. "I want to have competition at every position. And for us to say, 'You know, this guy is specifically going to be the quarterback or you want to have it at a certain date.'
"I don't know if that is really appropriate. I think you let this competition play out. I am excited about our competition at all positions and at the appropriate time, that we think is the appropriate time to name a starting quarterback, we certainly will."
The Jets have preached all along that Smith and Vick will compete for the starting job, even as Vick remained steadfast in his belief that the deck was stacked against him. On Wednesday, Ryan said Smith "is head and shoulders above where he was last year," then heaped praise on both quarterbacks.
"Now you add in Mike Vick, who also knows this system, is a great athlete and I think it is really a great situation," Ryan said. "I don't know if we have had a better quarterback situation since I have been a head coach here."
That sound you hear is Rex kicking some more dirt over the Mark Sanchez era in New York.
The latest "Around The League Podcast" offers up team-by-team training camp previews of the NFC East and NFC West.
