The New York Jets settled their starting quarterback question in March when they acquired Geno Smith from the Raiders. What they have not settled, with camp weeks away, is who stands behind him — and the evidence suggests they are in no hurry to answer.
As Nick Faria of Jets On SI reported in late June, the backup job is an open three-way competition among Bailey Zappe, undrafted free agent Brady Cook, and fourth-round rookie Cade Klubnik, and the team is content to let training camp sort it out. Zappe enters as the nominal favorite on experience: the 2022 fourth-round pick spent last season on Cleveland’s practice squad, signed a futures contract with New York in January, and took minicamp reps alongside Smith. Klubnik represents the developmental investment; Cook is the camp arm with a puncher’s chance.
The patience is a strategy, not indecision. Faria’s reporting laid out the logic: several teams are running backup competitions they cannot fully keep. Philadelphia will not carry both Tanner McKee and Andy Dalton into the season, and Pittsburgh and Tennessee are holding four quarterbacks apiece on their 90-man rosters. When cutdown day arrives at the end of August, a proven backup will hit the market — last summer both Kenny Pickett and Sam Howell were traded for Day 3 picks in the week before the season. If none of the in-house candidates seizes the job, the Jets can simply buy the answer late, and cheaply.
The skeptic’s note is this: the plan is sound right up until it matters. Smith turns 36 during his first season back with the franchise that drafted him in 2013, and the Jets acquired him as a bridge while they study the 2027 quarterback class. Bridges built on 36-year-old quarterbacks occasionally require the backup sooner than anyone budgeted. A depth chart whose second line reads “to be determined in late August” is defensible roster management — but it is also a bet that the injury luck holds until the rest of the league finishes its own auditions.
Camp will tell. For now, the honest answer to “who backs up Geno Smith?” is: probably someone not yet certain to be on the roster.
