Former WVU QB Geno Smith in battles to watch in the NFL

Vernon

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http://sports.yahoo.com/news/six-ea...-johnny-manziel-and-geno-smith-234816821.html

Ryan Fitzpatrick vs. Geno Smith, New York Jets

Jets fans will so want rookie Bryce Petty to be a part of this competition. But he won't be. At least not before the season opener.

He looked rough in rookie minicamp, with some of his predraft red flags popping up (see: the deep ball). That's fine. Even Petty's supporters in the scouting community said repeatedly leading to the draft that he's a project who is a minimum of a year away.

That will leave incumbent Geno Smith fending off Ryan Fitzpatrick for the starting job – a battle that will start from Day One. And Smith should be worried. There's a new coaching staff and front office in place. The regime that drafted Smith isn't there to give him second and third chances. Smith will be learning a new offense/verbiage under Chan Gailey, who was ushered in as offensive coordinator in January. And the height of Fitzpatrick's career occurred under Gailey, who was Fitzpatrick's head coach from 2010-12 with the Buffalo Bills. That means Fitzpatrick is already familiar with a large chunk of the offense/verbiage that Gailey is installing. None of this is coincidence.

Fitzpatrick isn't just there to help teach Smith. He's there to step in as soon as he's needed.
 

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Gailey will be a great coach for Geno, but Fitzpatrick will get the opening day nod, lock it up.