Geno Smith is wasting no time making his mark in Jets history.
Two games into his New York return, the veteran quarterback hasn’t exactly been lighting up the scoreboard, but he has given the Jets something they’ve needed badly at the position: steadiness. Through his first two starts, Smith has avoided interceptions in back-to-back games, completed 70.8 percent of his passes and piled up 462 passing yards. That completion rate is good for No. 7 in the league and second-best in the AFC, behind Deshaun Watson.
The more interesting development, though, is what Smith has done to the Jets’ all-time passing leaderboard.
After throwing for 247 yards against the Packers last weekend, Smith moved into 10th place on the franchise’s career passing yards list. He now sits at 6,424 yards and is 192 yards shy of passing Ryan Fitzpatrick for ninth.
Smith’s climb is a reminder of just how much Jets history he already has on his résumé. He spent his first four seasons with the team, throwing for nearly 5,600 yards over his first two years before losing his starting job in the summer of 2015 after a sucker punch to the jaw. He later got a brief chance to replace Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2016, only to tear his ACL in his first start.
As of Sept. 26, the Jets’ all-time passing yards leaders are:
Joe Namath - 27,057
Ken O'Brien - 24,386
Richard Todd - 18,241
Chad Pennington - 13,378
Vinny Testaverde - 12,497
Mark Sanchez - 12,029
Boomer Esiason - 8,478
Sam Darnold - 8,097
Ryan Fitzpatrick - 6,615
Geno Smith - 6,424
A few things jump out from that list. Testaverde, Pennington and Sanchez are the only Jets quarterbacks with winning records. Namath finished 60-61-4, though his Super Bowl III win changes the conversation around him entirely.
Sanchez also finishing ahead of Esiason is a notable one, especially considering Esiason spent so many years as a fixture in New York sports radio. And at the top of the chart, the first four quarterbacks all averaged at least seven yards per attempt, while Fitzpatrick and Smith are just behind them at 6.9.
Smith has also thrown only 29 touchdown passes as a Jet, which leaves him 13th on the team’s list. Even so, he could climb as high as eighth by season’s end if he keeps producing.
That kind of progress will depend on the offense staying on track, and the source material points to Adonai Mitchell as a key part of that. Mitchell has already caught nine passes for 123 yards, and the expectation is that he’ll finally find the end zone on Sunday afternoon.
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