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‘No urgency’ for Woody on Fitz
W HAT, Woody worry?
“No news,” Woody Johnson said Thursday at the BTIG Annual Charity Day. “No news to report.”
No news is good news, unless you are embroiled in a contract impasse with your starting quarterback.
“We’ve got til training camp really to get something done,” Johnson said. “I don’t think there’s any real urgency at this point.” What, Woody worry? “I told you guys I never worry. I’m not frustrated and I don’t worry. Worry’s a waste of time.”
Unless, of course, you are a Jets fan and have been waiting since Jan. 12, 1969, for a second Super Bowl championship.
The owner of the Jets was asked if there could be friction between Ryan Fitzpatrick and the organization when and if he re-signs.
“No,” Johnson said. “No. We don’t have friction, we don’t worry, we’re not frustrated.”
For Jets fans who do worry, I solicited Hall of Famer Curtis Martin, forever the voice of reason, to maybe help break the impasse.
I asked Martin: What would your message to Fitzpatrick be and what would your message to Woody Johnson be?
“My message to Fitz would be: ‘You deserve to get paid.’ I think that there’s a high demand for quarterbacks in the NFL,” Martin said. “I think that he’s in a good position. I would tell him to play his cards right. I think he should get what he feels he’s worth, but just make sure that that’s reasonable, and that it’s, at the end of the day, fair.” Your message to Woody? “I would probably just say, ‘Woody, you’re probably gonna have to bend, more than you would want to on this situation. But don’t break the team over one guy. Don’t sacrifice the team for one guy. Pay him just a little more than what’s fair, but don’t go too far.’ That would be my advice.” In the game of musical quarterbacks, Fitzpatrick is the last man standing right now.
“I believe that Fitz was on the best team he’s ever been on last season, and he wants to be here, I believe that, and I know as you know the teammates like him, and they want him to be here,” Joe Namath said. “Unfortunately, they call it business in a sense, you know?
“I think it behooves him to resign with the Jets.”
Namath a few minutes later: “Has he said he wants to play? We got to find out if he really wants to play.” He wants to play. “OK, how badly?” Namath said. “We’ll see.”
Namath was asked if he’s comfortable with Geno Smith as the starter.
“I’d feel comfortable with Fitzpatrick back there,” he said.
Namath would have felt even more comfortable with Broncos quarterback Mark Sanchez back there.
“Meantime, I don’t think he could beat Sanchez out, let me put that out there,” Namath said. “You got a younger body, a stronger arm out there, and you got a guy that’s got some experience. But Fitz fits in here, and the team loves him, the players do.”
Second-round draft pick Christian Hackenberg could profit by learning his craft under Fitzpatrick.
“Physically, he seems to have very good size. … I started getting picky and looking at his footwork and his motion too, and I think it’s a little early for that, but I didn’t see anything that I’d say, ‘Oh, he needs to this, he needs to tighten his motion here,’ I didn’t say any of that,” Namath said. “It’s between the ears what it looks like to me, how he develops that way.”
Martin thinks Fitzpatrick’s return is important for the Jets.
“I think Fitzpatrick is just getting to that point where he’s starting to jell and know the system and know the team and get that comfort that I believe a quarterback needs to do well,” Martin said. “I would hate to see them have to start all over again, because I think it just prolongs the success that I think the team’s capable of having.
“I think that he can be even better this upcoming year.”
Fitzpatrick filled a huge leadership void in the locker room once Smith went down for the count with that broken jaw.
“I don’t know who’s more talented — I think Geno may even be more talented than Fitzpatrick,” Martin said, “but he has more experience, Fitzpatrick does, and he’s just learned how to relax a little more.” Fitzpatrick isn’t blinking. What, Woody worry?