Geno Smith Clobbered By Unnamed NFL Execs; Jets Pick 'Tuned Out'?
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The Jets have had their fair share of quarterback bashing via anonymous sources. Who could forget Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow being torn to shreds by members of their own organization?
Apparently it's not limited to the hallways at Florham Park.
Jets second-round pick Geno Smith completed the trifecta in a critical Yahoo! Sports report, which quoted unnamed league executives who came away from their pre-draft assessments unimpressed with the West Virgina quarterback.
The report also alleged Smith appeared more interested in noodling around on his cell phone than actually connecting with potential teams' coaches.
"He doesn't have much presence, not much of a leader," one NFL executive told Yahoo! Sports. "I don't think he's a bad person, but that's not enough to be a quarterback in this league."
Another league executive said Smith's "biggest problem is that he doesn't know what he doesn't know."
"I'm not sure he knows how to take instruction because he pretty much wouldn't listen or talk to our coaches … he's talented. He can sling it, he can fit it into tight spots, he can do a lot of things and I think he wants to be good. But you can't tell him anything right now. He's tuned out because he thinks he's got it all down," the unnamed exec said.
The 22-year-old Smith fired his agents this week, just days after slipping out of the first round of the draft. He told SiriusXM NFL Radio on Tuesday that his decision to part ways with Select Sports Group wasn't made because of "the whole draft experience."
Smith -- who acknowledged the drop was "kind of tough to stomach" -- compiled video-game stats in four years at West Virginia, throwing for 11,662 yards with 98 touchdowns and 21 interceptions.
At one point he was expected to be the first quarterback taken, possibly a top-10 pick. Instead Smith fell to the Jets, and will get his chance to compete in the team's five-headed quarterback competition -- though Smith, Sanchez and David Garrard are really the only horses in the race. Greg McElroy and Matt Simms are also on the roster, while Tebow was released on Monday.
Smith "is still under great scrutiny in league circles," Yahoo! Sports reported.
A pair of unnamed sources told the website that a detached Smith was texting and thumbing through Twitter during his pre-draft visits around the league.
"All these other players who were in there were talking to the coaches, trying to get to know people and he was over there by himself," a source told told Yahoo! Sports. "That's not what you want out of your quarterback."
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