The Jets Are on the Hunt for Quarterbacks

David Garrard and Brady Quinn are sure to underwhelm the masses

The Jets have started looking for their new quarterbacks. 

Former Jaguars quarterback David Garrard was in town for a workout on Thursday and told Manish Mehta of the Daily News that it went well. Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that Garrard expects to sign a deal with the team once they've worked through some of the mess that is their payroll. 

We'll see if that's true, but it does fit with what they've said about adding competition at quarterback this offseason. The team has indicated that they want to sign two quarterbacks to the roster and the Garrard meeting was preceded by word that the team has interest in Chiefs backup and impending free agent Brady Quinn. 

And therein lies the rub. You'll notice that neither of those names make you jump up and exclaim that John Idzik would be some kind of miracle worker to bring this kind of talent to the team. 

They are bargain basement choices for a team that can barely afford to pay bargain basement prices. Welcome to the Jets of 2013, ladies and gentlemen. 

There was a point when Garrard would have been a clear step up from Mark Sanchez at quarterback. Unfortunately, that time was when George W. Bush was still in the White House and Garrard hasn't taken a snap in the NFL in the last two years. 

Quinn doesn't even have the shine of the good old days to make you think there's a chance he could make the offense into something that didn't produce nausea more often than points. This is a guy who has been beaten out on depth charts by the likes of Derek Anderson, Tim Tebow, Kyle Orton and Matt Cassel over the course of his massively disappointing career. 

Say whatever you want about Sanchez, but he's been better than most of the guys on that list and Orton's superficially better stats haven't landed him any kind of regular work around the NFL. The idea that Quinn (or Garrard, for that matter) is anything more than a threat to Greg McElroy as the backup is hard to swallow. 

There are so many holes on this Jets team and so little money to fill them that it is probably silly to even bother worrying about who plays quarterback since they're unlikely to have blockers or skill position players who could help them win. It would also be easier since worrying about their choices now will lead to caring about their results come September and that feels like nothing so much as a recipe for disaster. 

Josh Alper is also a writer for Pro Football Talk. You can follow him on Twitter.

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