Armed with the sixth pick in the 2015 NFL Draft next month, Jets owner Woody Johnson believes what he has now under center could be better than what he may land in the draft.
Johnson spoke at the league meetings in Phoenix and said he believes that incumbent/embattled quarterback Geno Smith is "way ahead" of former Oregon signal caller Marcus Mariota, who could very well fall to the Jets with the No. 6 overall pick.
"Geno is probably way ahead of him at this point, believe it or not, whether you guys [have] skepticism of that or not," Johnson said, according to ESPN. "Certainly, [Mariota's] college career was good."
Johnson could have simply meant that Smith, having two NFL seasons under his belt, has more experience than Mariota as he preps for his first season in the league.
Johnson brought in veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick to compete for the starting job with Smith, but the team hasn't ruled out drafting Mariota. Johnson has remained non-committal on Smith as the quarterback following a 4-12 season that led to a regime change in New York.
"That's something we're going to look at," Johnson said about the starting quarterback situation. "We've got from now until the start of the season to address every position, not only quarterback. We're going to have competition at every position. Hopefully, that'll bring out the best in them -- the quarterbacks and the rest of the positions."
Johnson and the Jets are prepared to head to Oregon on Saturday to observe a private workout with Mariota, but they're still undecided on what they will do with their sixth pick should the Heisman Trophy winner be available.
"We're in the process of going through all the candidates," Johnson said. "I don't know who it is at this point, whether it's Mariota or anybody else."
Mariota won the Heisman Trophy in 2014 and went 304-for-445 (68.3 percent) for 4,454 yards with 42 touchdowns and four interceptions en route to a Rose Bowl victory and a trip to the National Championship Game.
Mariota, 21, went 779-for-1,167 (66.8 percent) in three years with Oregon for 10,796 yards with 105 scores and 14 picks.
Smith, meanwhile, has struggled mightily through his first two NFL seasons, throwing more interceptions (34) than touchdowns (25) in his career to this point.
Johnson has a lot of decisions to make heading into the NFL Draft from April 30-May 2. Perhaps after Saturday, things will be clearer for the future of the Jets.
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