My Favourite Jets: #4

Edition #175

Good morning!

Just a reminder that I have pre-written all posts this week as I’m on holiday, so please forgive me if there are some major developments that aren’t covered. I’m hoping I’ve timed my holiday well and all is quiet in the Jets world.

Today I’ve continuing the countdown of my five favorite Jets of all time and I’d love to see yours in the comments.

Yesterday I touched on a player who I never saw play live, today I’m focusing on a player who took me from being a fan to a fanatic of the green and white.

I was already well-entrenched as a fan when the Jets decided to use their first-round pick on Chad Pennington. The Marshall man had been breaking records in college with a receiver who would become well known in the NFL, Randy Moss.

But it wasn’t straightforward for Chad, he wasn’t highly recruited with only Chattanooga and Middle Tennessee showing interest in offering scholarships, it wasn’t until he attended a summer camp at his parent’s alma mater Marshall that he felt the love his talent deserved. The head coach at the time was Jim Donnan, who offered Pennington a scholarship before the camp was finished.

Pennington played as a rookie and then redshirted, but that year off gave him the opportunity to grow both mentally and physically. He arrived at Marshall as a scrawny 175lb passer and left as a 225lb NFL-ready QB. The year after his redshirt season he threw for 3,817 passing yards, 42 touchdowns, 12 interceptions…1,820 receiving yards, and 26 touchdowns going to Randy Moss. The wide receiver may have left after that glorious season, but Pennington continued to dominate with 3,830 passing yards, 28 touchdowns, and seven interceptions that year and 3,799 passing yards, 37 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions in 1999.

Heading into the NFL draft Pennington expected the Pittsburgh Steelers to pull the trigger at #8 overall - They’d shown the most interest through the pre-draft period and he’d hosted a contingent of Steelers in his hometown. If the Steelers didn’t make the call then he was told he’d drop no lower than the 49’ers pick at #16. In the end the Steelers went with receiver Plaxico Burress and San Francisco picked up Julian Peterson the linebacker, leaving Pennington to the Jets at #18.

Of course, Pennington wasn’t the only first-round choice of the Jets that season. They had 4 thanks to the moves of Bill Belichick and Keyshawn Johnson and they used those picks on Shaun Ellis (#12), John Abraham (#13), Chad Pennington (#18) and Anthony Becht (#27). Nobody thought the Jets were in a market for a QB, Bill Parcells seemed content with Vinny Testaverde and Ray Lucas, but when a guy like Chad drops then things start to change.

Obviously, Chad played behind Vinny Testaverde for the first two years of his career…it was a time where rookie QB’s were allowed to be rookies, they were allowed to sit and learn behind a seasoned veteran. He famously took the Jets playbook away on his honeymoon with him, which is just one of the reasons why he became one of my favorite Jets of all time.

In 2022 the Jets started 1-4 prompting them to turn to Chad, he took them to a final 9-7 record with 3,120 passing yards, 22 touchdowns, and six interceptions. His accuracy was on show from the start, he didn’t have the strongest arm in the league but his arm was plenty good enough at the start of his career and people often forget that. He was smart and decisive with the football, he knew the playbook by heart and made the right reads, delivering the ball accurately and on-time.

Unfortunately, the rest of his career was just plagued by injuries…starting in 2003 with a dislocated hand in pre-season forcing him to miss the first 6 games of the season. He injured his rotator cuff in 2005 limiting him to 3 games and although he had good seasons with a comeback player of the year award in 2006, he was benched in 2007 in favour of Clemens. When the Jets signed Brett Favre they released Chad Pennington who went on to have a fine season with the Miami Dolphins.

Injuries took such a toll on Pennington, whether that was his wrist limiting his play-fake ability which was the best in the league in 2002, or his rotator cuff injuries forcing him to change his throwing mechanics, the Jets and the NFL were robbed of a supreme talent. But he was methodical and a really nice guy to boot, he did so much charity and community work and he took the Jets to the playoffs on multiple occasions which is a bit of a foreign concept at the moment.

He’ll always be one of my all-time favorite players.