Potential Jets: David Garrard

After being cut in the preseason, David Garrard sat out the 2011 season. He was reportedly looking for a starting job that never came. If Garrard wants to rejoin the league in 2012, he might have to lower his expectations a bit and find a team where he will be given a chance to compete for a starting job. The Jets could be a logical destination.

I think Garrard would be an ideal guy to push Mark Sanchez for the starting job. Sanchez is a better player on his best day, but Garrard is better on a normal day. In order to win and keep the starting job, Sanchez would need to finally start playing with that elusive consistency.

A team will be disappointed expecting a high flying passing attack with Garrard at quarterback. He simply does not have the kind of big time arm to make the really difficult throws with regularity. What he would bring a passing game is credibility. His career numbers are respectable, a 61.1% completion percentage, an 85.8 passer rating, an average of 7 yards per attempt, and a 1.6 touchdown to interception ratio. He is mobile enough to extend plays and net positive yardage. Garrard ran for at least 250 yards in four of his last five seasons. He also protects the football with an interception rate of 2.4%. That is eleventh all time.

None of these are spectacular, but they could go a long way to improving the Jets. Garrard posts middle of the pack numbers, but the Jets were not a middle of the pack passing team in 2011. This is not the kind of quarterback to build a team around, but he can thrive where he has a strong defense and run game built around him. The Jets were just a bit more efficiency from the passing game and much better ball security away from being an 11 win team in 2011. If Sanchez is not going to be the guy, Garrard can give the team what it needs. If Mark is ready to emerge, Garrard would still be an excellent insurance policy as a backup.

What do you think?