Bryceis sending all right signals for future success
THE EDUCATION of Bryce Petty means avoiding the temptation to go into warp speed. He has the physical skills, mental makeup and maturity to thrive, but there’s a danger in rushing his development that the Jets must avoid.
Patience has its privileges, especially with a 24-year-old rookie quarterback wise beyond his years. He is engaging and genuinely humble, a next-level thinker who knows that 90% of the battle is won above the neck. He has miles to go before he sleeps. He’s confident, not cocky. He knows he can play here. He also knows there’s a lot he doesn’t know.
The NFL landscape has been littered with cautionary tales of talented quarterbacks fast-tracked to oblivion. Petty has the baseline skill set that talent evaluators crave. Cannon arm. Good head on his shoulders. Leadership traits.
The Jets should cultivate his talent, not wreck it by needlessly accelerating his transition from a simplified college spread system. Petty might be the answer to a 40-year-old question for an organization looking for a true franchise quarterback if the brain trust takes a cautious and smart approach.
“I don’t have a timetable,” Petty told the Daily News after practice on Saturday.
“There’s not a whole lot of retraining. It’s learning something new. It’s fun. The bumps and bruises are hard. I’m a perfectionist, so to miss things, to not get things sometimes, that part’s hard. . . . But when you sit back and think about the football knowledge I’ve learned these last couple months, man that’s cool to me. I’m excited about what’s ahead.”
The Jets are optimistic, too. General manager Mike Maccagnan might have found a starter in the fourth round, but he won’t know for sure for at least another year or two or three.
It’s blasphemous in today’s NFL to give quarterbacks the necessary time to study, learn and grow. The notion that the Houston Oilers plucked Steve McNair out of Alcorn State only to hand him a clipboard to watch behind Chris Chandler for much of his rookie season is foreign now. The thought of Randall Cunningham playing only on third-and-longs early in his career wouldn’t fly today.
So, young talent is fed to the wolves. Some QBs like David Carr never overcome the psychological trauma.
The next is now. Sooner, however, is rarely better unless your name is Luck.
Petty has a chance to make it if handled properly. The Jets quarterback depth took a hit when Geno Smith, who is persona non grata these days, landed in the hospital after getting clocked in the jaw by a disgruntled teammate.
The Jets will add a veteran signal caller later this summer. In the meantime, Petty has received extended practice reps as the No. 2 quarterback behind veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick. He endured his fair share of struggles in his pro debut last week against the Lions. He made “ground-level execution” mistakes, as he called it, but it’s hardly reason to panic.
“Bryce has it,” Fitzpatrick said. “He’s got all the physical tools that he’s ever going to need. ... We’re just continuing to try to work achieving that mental clarity when the ball is snapped. ... Eliminate all that clutter after the ball is snapped. The hardest thing to do as a young guy is to be at peace when the ball is snapped.”
Petty’s willingness to learn each day has given people in the organization belief that he might be what they’re looking for one day. There are no guarantees. He’s still in the embryonic stage of development, but the physical and mental upside is tantalizing.
Petty’s pro outlook was all over the map. Some scouts believed that the former Baylor star that lit it up in Art Briles’ spread system for two years would have a real chance at immediate success. Others viewed him as a long-term project.
Petty knows he can play at this level. He says it without a trace of arrogance, which is hard to pull off for a rookie.
“I’ve grown up watching these guys on Sundays,” Petty said. “At some point you got to say, my idols are now my competition. That’s important because you got to know that you can be here. ... I am a good quarterback. What I do works and I can be successful. For me, that was huge because there was a lot of doubt coming in from everybody. Can he do it?”
He makes no promises or guarantees, but his goals are ambitious. He wants a gold jacket one day. Today, he just wants to accurately diagnosis a corner blitz.
“You’re playing the wrong sport if you don’t want that,” Petty said of the Hall of Fame. “To be considered great, to be considered a legend in this game, it definitely means ending in Canton, Ohio. That’s obviously what anybody wants: to be considered the best to ever play their sport. So I definitely want that, but right now it’s got to be things that I can control on a day-today basis until I know things like the back of my hand. Right now, I don’t.” So, he continues to learn by asking questions and making mistakes. He just needs time.
“I have the physical tools,” Petty said. “Now it’s just making sure I have the mental and then it could be…”
His voice trailed off. He didn’t complete the thought. He didn’t have to.
The promise of what lies ahead is intriguing.