Showing that their QB3 battle was even going into the night, the New York Jets gave Brady Cook and Adrian Martinez one half apiece in their preseason finale.
Cook came out as the clear winner.
The stats are the stats; I won’t even write those here. Who cares about a young quarterback’s box-score stats in the preseason? When evaluating a young quarterback, the process is what matters.
And in that department, Cook clearly separated himself from Martinez on Friday night.
When given time to operate by his makeshift offensive line, Cook delivered a collection of sharp tight-window throws with excellent anticipation and accuracy. He had some mistakes, including an interception on an out route that was too far inside, but Cook continued building on the incredible progress he has made since OTAs.
Cook had a number of “big boy” plays throughout his two quarters of work, particularly on the Jets’ two-minute drive to close the half. He looked the part of a quarterback who could potentially be competent in an NFL regular season game.
Martinez looked the part of a preseason star.
There’s a difference.
From Chris Streveler to James Morgan, the Jets have seen their share of preseason stars at the quarterback position. Martinez’s performance looked more like a Streveler recreation than something that can be sustained in a real game.
Martinez lit up the highlight reel in the second half, nearly leading New York to a 16-point comeback as he consistently evaded pass rushers and ran wild in the backfield. But he also had a brutal interception, another should-be awful interception where he did not see a linebacker and threw it right into his hands (dropped), and a fumble where he hesitated in the pocket and held the ball too long.
Martinez also missed multiple open in-structure throws that should have been layups.
Numbers and highlights in the preseason do not matter – the fundamentals do. That is what indicates a player’s ability to achieve sustained success in a regular season environment.
In that area, Cook is clearly the Jets’ third-best quarterback. Martinez still has some potential of his own – his physical attributes are undeniably appealing – but he does not look like a quarterback who would have a realistic chance of keeping an NFL offense humming.
Additionally, it must be considered where these two quarterbacks stand in their careers. Cook is a 23-year-old rookie. Martinez is 25 years old and in his third NFL season. If all things were equal (which they are not), the Jets should side with Cook anyway, as he offers more upside.
Add in the trajectory that Cook has been on since OTAs through the preseason finale, and his arrow is pointing much straighter upward than Martinez’s.
Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Cook is that most of his appeal has been built through his prowess in the pocket, yet he actually has tremendous athletic tools. If you have only watched Cook in this year’s preseason, you wouldn’t even know that he boasts a dazzling 9.71 Relative Athletic Score; for comparison, Josh Allen scored a 9.74.
Cook ran a 4.59 in the forty, recorded a 37-inch vertical, and posted a 128-inch broad jump. Yet, we hardly saw him run the football or break the pocket in the preseason. He built his roster case with his pocket play. All of his athletic upside is still waiting to be tapped into.
Martinez used his legs far more often than Cook in the preseason. That does not make him a higher-ceiling player. It simply means he is not as comfortable as Cook working in-structure, so he resorts to backyard football more often, which would translate poorly to the regular season.
Martinez is an elite athlete in his own right, posting a 9.74 RAS (although his testing profile is incomplete), but Jets fans who have only watched the preseason might view Martinez as a better fit to back up Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor in the Jets’ offensive scheme. In reality, Cook is just as athletic and just as prolific as a rusher (he rushed for 20 touchdowns in college) – he just didn’t play backyard football in the preseason.
Because he didn’t need to. He displayed comfort working in-structure that Martinez did not.
And that’s why he should be the Jets’ clear-cut choice for QB3.
Will that result in a 53-man roster spot? Will it result in a gamble to stash him on the practice squad? Time will tell, but if the Jets’ goal with this competition was to identify the prospect with a better chance of developing into a viable backup quarterback, Cook is the man to prioritize.
