Jets Coach Todd Bowles Hints Ryan Fitzpatrick Could Be Starting QB Next Year

The Ryan Fitzpatrick era with the New York Jets may not be as over as everything thinks.

In an interview on the Michael Kay Show Monday, head coach Todd Bowles fielded questions about the Jets quarterback situation, with Bryce Petty the obvious choice considering the team’s 3-7 record. Kay repeatedly questioned Bowles about the starter going foward, who in turn danced around announcing a decision. Further, when pressed about next season, Bowles hinted that Fitzpatrick could actually be in the team’s plans.

“What good is it to have Ryan Fitzpatrick out there? In all likelihood he’s not your quarterback next year,” Kay quizzed Bowles, to which the second year head coach responded with the following.

“Says you. We discuss that in house and we’ll take care of it going forward.”

If the Jets do indeed go back to Fitzpatrick this year and next, it will be very telling of what the organization thinks of both last year’s fourth round draft pick Bryce Petty and this season’s second round pick Christian Hackenberg. Rich Cimini, of ESPN, thinks Bowles is not convinced the Jets’ chances of making the playoffs are over yet and that’s the factor in his thought process.

“If the Jets were in a must-win situation, the choice would be easy — Fitzpatrick. But they’ve done too much losing to make it a must-win. Bowles acknowledged there could be a point ‘toward the end of a season’ where a losing team may want to start evaluating for the future. It doesn’t sound like he’s there yet.”

Petty took the field against the Rams on Sunday and fell 9-6. He went 19-of-32 for 163 yards, a touchdown and an interception. The lone highlights included a 52-yard bomb to Robby Anderson as part of an impressive 99-yard drive in the second quarter, capped off by a gadget play at the goal line where Petty completed a pass to Brandon Marshall who then shoveled it to Bilal Powell for the score. Overall, Bowles gave Petty a fair critique after that game.

“He was calm, he was poised when he was out there,” Bowles said. “He threw the deep ball well. He understood his reads. He went where the ball was supposed to go. He hurried up some things; that’s going to happen when a first-time starter comes out there. He hurried some throws and he missed a couple of reads as well. But, for the most part, other than the one turnover, he played OK.”

But is “OK” enough to get the nod against the rival New England Patriots when the team resumes play in two weeks? Not yet. Bowles said he will name his starter next week.

The situation is pretty ironic considering the long hold out incumbent Ryan Fitzpatrick assumed during the offseason. Coming off a career year where the journeyman quarterback threw for nearly 4,000 yards, 31 TDs and only 15 INTs, Fitzpatrick was looking for a payday in the neighborhood of what Philadelphia gave Sam Bradford and Houston gave Brock Osweiler. He also wanted a long term deal to stay with the club.

But the Jets didn’t budge. In fact, they went out and drafted Penn St. quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the second round, further muddying the situation with Ryan. Eventually, Fitzpatrick and the team settled on a one-year, $12 million dollar deal. It was essentially an audition to ensure 2015’s season wasn’t a fluke. So far though, Fitzpatrick has shown that is was.

Petty meanwhile continues to make strides. In an interview with NJ Dot Com, the second-year man focused on that as his only goal at the moment.

“Shoot, it’s like anything else. You just need to build off of things. In the preseason, we felt good about going out there and building off of all the stuff I learned the year before. It’s just about making strides. It’s a day-by-day process. I feel good every time I’m in there.”

[Featured Image by Tom Szczerbowski/Getty Images]