The Jets aren’t willing to name Geno Smith their starting quarterback for the 2014 season, but Smith feels confident that he’ll erase any doubts about his ability to thrive in the NFL in the next couple of years.
Smith was voted the No. 32 quarterback in the 32-team league in a recent poll by ESPN and is expecting to find himself on the other end of the rankings before too long. Smith said that “guys improve all the time” and that he’s putting in the hard work it will take to climb the ladder after a rough rookie season.
“The thing about it is, you have to climb up,” Smith said, via ESPNNewYork.com. “If I’m No. 32, by this time next year or the year after, I expect to be in the top 5.”
There will certainly be those that disagree with Smith’s feeling that he can rise that high, but it’s hard to fault a player for setting that kind of goal for themselves. In the end, it doesn’t much matter where Smith ranks in an ESPN poll as long as he can show significant progress over last season.
He was resilient enough to turn in some of his best performances in the final weeks of the season and there’s more talent around him than there was on an underpowered Jets offense last season. He’ll need to use that extra help to turn those encouraging moments into a higher level of play over the entire season to make any move up the ladder or the Jets might turn to Michael Vick and then look elsewhere before training camp next season.