A precaution, not a problem
Geno Smith watched the Jets’ preseason opener from the sideline overnight, and the reason depends on which outlet you trust. ESPN reported an ankle. NFL.com said a sore foot.
Head coach Aaron Glenn seemed less interested in the label than the timeline. “It’s nothing to be alarmed about,” he said after New York’s 24-16 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in East Rutherford. He listed Smith as day-to-day.
The issue surfaced during Wednesday’s joint practice with Tampa Bay. Glenn held his starter out as a precaution rather than risk anything in a game with nothing riding on it.
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Full circle at 35
Smith is 35 and back where he started. The Jets took him in 2013 and he spent four seasons in New York before the league sent him on a long tour: the Giants in 2017, the Chargers in 2018, Seattle from 2020 through 2024, then Las Vegas in 2025. Five franchises across nine years, and now a return to the building where his career began.
That history shapes how the Jets treat a sore foot in August. Smith has been a starter, a career backup, a comeback story and a stopgap, sometimes within the same two-year window. New York did not bring him back to expose him in a game that will not appear in any standings.
The race going on behind him
His absence opened the door for the rest of the depth chart, and one name walked straight through it. Rookie Cade Klubnik started and produced points on both of his drives, a field goal and a touchdown. The fourth-round pick out of Clemson finished 5 of 7 for 56 yards.
Bailey Zappe did himself no favours. Six completions in 10 attempts for 55 yards, and two interceptions. Brady Cook handled the largest workload of the night and went 9 of 15 for 108 yards.
Klubnik arrived with the least job security of the three. He leaves the opener with the cleanest tape.
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