In the race to become the Jets’ starting quarterback, Geno Smith is lagging behind Mark Sanchez in at least one respect: Physical conditioning.
That’s the word from Brian Baldinger of NFL Network, who was at Jets camp on Sunday and said Smith looked out of shape during wind sprints following practice. According to Baldinger, Smith couldn’t keep up with Sanchez or anyone else in the group of players doing conditioning drills together.
“He looked good yesterday until they ran gassers at the end of practice, and Geno Smith looked like he had done no conditioning,” Baldinger said of Smith. “It was actually embarrassing to see how far behind he was behind Sanchez, [Matt] Simms and everybody else that’s there.”
Smith is a faster runner than Sanchez (Smith ran the 40-yard dash in the 4.6-second range at the Scouting Combine, while Sanchez was in the 4.9-second range), so if Sanchez is beating Smith in wind sprints, that suggests that Sanchez has taken his conditioning much more seriously this offseason. That would seem to be a point in Sanchez’s favor as Rex Ryan, John Idzik and others make the “group effort” to pick the starter.
But much more important than wind sprints is the ability to run the offense, and Baldinger said in that respect, Smith looked good on the practice field.
“He did look good getting in and out of the huddle, getting to the line of scrimmage, getting the ball out of his hands quickly,” Baldinger said.
That’s what really matters to playing quarterback. But it would be nice to see Smith get himself into shape.