00:0913 years ago geno smith arrived in new york as a 22 year old quarterback expected to help fix the
00:15jets and it didn't happen he lost games he lost his starting job and eventually he lost his place
00:21in new york altogether but here's the funny thing about nfl careers sometimes the player everyone
00:26thinks you are 22 isn't the player you become at 35 and now geno smith is back not as a
00:32young
00:32quarterback trying to save the jets but as the veteran quarterback that they believe can finally
00:37stabilize them if you only remember geno smith from his first thing with the jets you miss most of his
00:43story because after leaving new york geno did something that rarely happens in the nfl he
00:48rebuilt his career now it wasn't an overnight rebuild he spent years as a backup with the giants the
00:55chargers and eventually seattle and when his opportunity finally came with the seahawks
01:00geno didn't just become a competent starting quarterback he became a pro bowl quarterback
01:05he twice threw for more than 4 000 yards and twice completed at least 70 of his passes he proved
01:12that
01:12the quarterback who struggled early in his career wasn't necessarily the quarterback he was destined
01:17to remain and that's what makes this reunion so fascinating because the jets spent much of the time
01:23after geno left searching for exactly what geno eventually became a stable nfl starting quarterback
01:30and this time he shouldn't have to do it alone garrett wilson gives him a legitimate number one
01:35receiver breeze hall gives him a dynamic weapon out of the backfield the jets they've also invested
01:40significant resources into building their offensive line and unlike geno's first stint here in new york
01:46he isn't trying to learn how to become an nfl quarterback while simultaneously carrying the
01:51expectations of an entire franchise he already knows who he is and that matters because quarterback
01:57development isn't always linear sometimes we decide what a player is before he's actually
02:03finished developing geno smith he might be one of the best examples of that in modern nfl history
02:09but here's where i think we need to be careful because it's easy to make this entire story about
02:15redemption and quite honestly i don't think that it is geno doesn't need to erase what happened
02:20during his first day with the jets that's already written those struggles are part of his career
02:25the more interesting story is what happened afterward he survived he learned he waited and
02:32when another opportunity finally arrived he became a better quarterback because of everything that
02:37happened along the way and that's why his return to new york feels different this isn't a 22 year
02:43old trying to prove he belongs it's a veteran quarterback who's already proved that now comes the next
02:48chapter the jets opened the season in tennessee and geno knows better than almost anyone how quickly
02:53things can change for a quarterback in new york but maybe that's exactly why he's equipped to handle
02:57it this time because he's already experienced a criticism he's already been benched he's already been
03:02written off and somehow 13 years later he's back where the whole journey started not because the jets
03:08are trying to recreate the past but because geno smith became the quarterback they hoped he could be
03:12just happened later than anyone expected and after further review geno smith doesn't need to rewrite his
03:18jets history he just gets the real opportunity to give it a different ending
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