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Geno Smith, Mark Sanchez competition ‘ongoing’ for Jets QB, per owner

Geno Smith may be the Week 1 starter for the New York Jets, but he’ll still be competing with Mark Sanchez when the latter is healthy, according to owner Woody Johnson.

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

The New York Jets quarterback competition is still "ongoing," according to team owner Woody Johnson, as noted by Seth Walder of the New York Daily News. Johnson, general manager John Idzik and head coach Rex Ryan all said as much on Wednesday.

Rookie quarterback Geno Smith has been named the starter for Week 1 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, but that now looks like it was more due to Mark Sanchez's injury than Smith winning based on merit. Sanchez injured his right shoulder in the team's third preseason game and could miss multiple weeks, though he is officially "day-to-day."

This is probably good news for the Jets, for every reason other than stability and consistency on offense. Sanchez wasn’t playing well per se, but he was outplaying Smith in the preseason prior to his injury, to be sure. However, it would be surprising to see the Jets rotate quarterbacks in a regular season game just to see what they have.

More Jets: Gang Green Nation

More likely, the Jets will have Smith on a short leash once Sanchez is recovered from his injury. If Smith puts together a string of bad performances, it stands to reason that Sanchez would get the call. It’s an important situation to monitor, considering the future of Ryan as the team’s head coach will likely depend on how the quarterbacks play and how the situation is managed.

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