Tebow may be gone, but the Jets' circus hasn't left town

Tim Tebow is gone. So this should be a much calmer off season, training camp and start of the 2013 season for the Jets, right? Wrong.

With the drafting of Geno Smith, and the tumultuous and inconsistent tenure from Mark Sanchez, the Jets are set-up for an on-going quarterback controversy that the NY media and ESPN are going to cover until none of us can stand it any longer.

The Jets roster now includes:

Geno Smith
Mark Sanchez
David Garrard
Matt Simms
Greg McElroy

With Garrard and Sanchez already having spent significant time as starting quarterbacks and McElroy receiving time with the starting job in 2012, the cupboard is full and an exciting young player like Smith will give fans a lot of reason to pressure the organization into giving him playing time.

Not only were the fans fed up with Mark Sanchez last year, so was Rex Ryan. So one would think he would be in an impossible position heading into 2013. But with Garrard's age and diminishing production, it is a very real possibility that Sanchez wins the starting job. This will create havoc. As the first sign of struggles comes, the fans are going to be calling for Smith, and the rabid New York media will be doing the same. By the way, how spot on was this NY Post cover from last season?:

The circus hasn't left town. And as long as Mark Sanchez is on that roster, it probably won't. 

Smith and Te'o Still Waiting

Update: It's now being reported that Geno is sticking around for round 2 of the draft. Going to be a long night if nobody takes him.

The two glaring omissions from the NFL Draft last night were certainly Manti Te'o and Geno Smith. Smith, once thought of as perhaps the top pick, was passed over by the entire league; most notably, the Buffalo Bills, who decided to draft Florida St. quarterback EJ Manuel. That selection also featured the storyline that new Bills coach Doug Marrone who came from Syracuse, passed on selecting his former QB, Ryan Nassib. While this was a disappointment and bad news for Nassib's draft stock, the fact Smith did not go on day one was among the bigger surprises.

Smith's fall out of round one created the frequent awkward situation of a player being stuck at the draft as they fall down the board. By the end of the night, Smith declined an interview with ESPN but told Suzy Kolber he would go home and not attend the remaining rounds of the draft.

It wasn't hard to see this coming. Many predicted that no quarterbacks would be taken in the first round and that was almost the case. I understand the desire to go to New York for all the draft festivities, but if Smith was so upset about not being drafted that he is going home rather than sticking it out, he probably should have considered this scenario before making the decision to go.

As for Te'o, the question immediately becomes, why wasn't he taken? My belief is that it was a combination of the publicity and baggage that comes from the craziness surrounding his fake girlfriend and his shortcomings at the combine. His slow 4.82 40-yard dash may have been the bigger turn off for teams despite what Teo's regular season performance at Notre Dame may have shown. Good move by Te'o not attending the draft.