Geno will be full go in 2017, but where?
Geno Smith doesn’t know what team he’ll be playing for next season. But the Jets quarterback, who tore his ACL in Week 7, is sure about one thing: He’ll be ready to take the field.
“I’ll be full go during camp next year,” Smith told the Daily News on Friday in Florham Park. “But other than that, just taking it week by week. No need to rush it.”
Smith is in the final year of his rookie contract. And with both Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg on the roster, the Jets are unlikely to bring Smith back next year.
So the former second-round pick out of West Virginia will almost certainly be looking elsewhere for his next opportunity under center. First, though, Smith must complete the rehab on his knee.
Smith suffered the injury on Oct. 23 against the Ravens, just days after he took the starting job from Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Jets were 1-5, and Todd Bowles was looking for a spark. Then early in the second quarter, Smith twisted his knee while taking a sack on third down.
The opportunity he’d waited so long for vanished in the blink of an eye.
Smith, however, doesn’t view the situation that way.
“You know what? I don’t think that was my (only) opportunity. I just got a chance to go out there and play,” he said. “We got a lot of time left with this thing, so just got to continue to work on the rehab process and get my knee back healthy to 100%.”
Smith is surprised at how easy the rehab has been so far.
“As far as healing, I might be ahead of schedule,” Smith said. “I thought it would be a lot harder than it is. Actually, when I hurt it, I thought it would hurt a lot more than it did. But I also thought the recovery would be a lot harder. And it may get harder. But as of now, man, it’s been pretty smooth. The doctors have done a great job, and the guys who are taking care of me. So I think overall, a lot better than I expected.”
INJURY REPORT
WR Brandon Marshall (knee, foot), S Calvin Pryor (concussion), WR Jalin Marshall (conussion), OLB Lorenzo Mauldin (ankle), DT Steve McLendon (hamstring) and WR Devin Smith (illness) did not practice for the Jets on Friday. The team practices again on Saturday before taking on the Colts Monday night. Brandon Marshall has officially missed two straight days of practice because of the leg injuries he’s dealt with since twisting his knee against the Bills in Week 2. “Obviously it’s a concern when you haven’t practiced,” Bowles said of his top wide receiver. Center Nick Mangold practiced fully for the second straight day Friday. Bowles is hopeful he’ll play Monday night. “He’s getting reps. We’ve just got to see how rusty or how not rusty he is. We’re just working him in slowly.” Bowles hasn’t definitively ruled any player out for Monday, but he said McLendon is “closest” to missing the game.