What Erik Ainge Does To The QB Competition
I know I’ve been away for a while for a little while, what with spring break and all. Now I’m back to stay, and I am very pleased with the way the Jets draft went this weekend. One of the big things that the Jets did on Sunday that didn’t surprise me in the least was draft a quarterback, Erik Ainge of Tennessee. Ainge was one of those QBs that was in the second tier of passers, after Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco were taken off the board.
Meanwhile, after the draft, Tangini came down to the post-draft press conference and voiced their opinions on the Ainge pick. Of course, his discretion was obvious.
“I like Chad and I like Kellen,” Mangini said when asked if the drafting of Ainge in the fifth round rather than another QB higher showed confidence in his holdover veterans. “And with Erik now, it’s going to be a good group. We’ll see how Erik develops. It’s going to take some time, but I think he’ll fit in well in that room.”
Now, the Jets tell me that by taking Ainge in the fifth round and not another, better quarterback earlier in the day, that they are confident enough in Chad and Kellen, but were looking at developing an insurance policy with prototypical size and accuracy already in place.
At 6′5″ 225 pounds, Ainge is tall for a Quarterback, but his size is becoming more common in the league. His numbers at Tennessee ranked him third in program history in completions, pass attempts, and touchdown passes. The fact that he has passed the ball the third most times in school history shows he is used to an offense with no dominant running game, and he’ll be right at home in New York with the Jets. Although Ainge can be inconsistent at times when his mechanics break down, he’s the holder of the Tennessee single season accuracy percentage with 67%. Not bad when you consider Peyton Manning holds about every other record at the school.
Another reason that Ainge will be right at home with the Jets is because his main concern, according to numerous scouts, is arm strength. One clear advantage Clemens has over Pennington and Ainge. As a rookie coming from a college like Tennessee, Ainge’s ability to handle pressure isn’t great, and he’ll have to adjust to that type of change coming into a city like New York.
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