Geno Smith was heading into the 2015 season as the starting quarterback for the New York Jets. Yes, Ryan Fitzpatrick was also on the team, but he was going to be the backup to Smith. The Jets were Geno Smith’s team. And then that all changed on August 11, 2015, one year ago today. In a locker room altercation with then-teammate IK Inemkpali, Smith was punched in the jaw by Inemkpali and he broke his jaw. This led to Smith needing surgery and missing the rest of training camp and some regular season games. It also led to Smith losing his job, and he’s never gotten it back.
“Every day I’m pissed off until I get my job back. Until I’m a starting quarterback, I’m pissed off every day. That’s my mentality, that’s my competitive nature. I want to win so badly, deep inside of me. I’m not pissed off at anyone, but I do believe I’m a starting quarterback in this league, and I believe I can do great things,” said Smith. The situation allegedly happened because Smith hadn’t paid Enemkpali a $600 debt. Enemkpali paid for Smith’s plane ticket to attend Enemkpali’s football camp but then Smith had to back out last second due to personal reasons. “It was so easy to say, ‘Hey, this is not my fault. I’m the victim here, and this guy should be going to jail.’ Instead, I manned up. I owned it. I took responsibility for whatever actions I had in that altercation, and I chose to let that fuel me to become a better man and a better player,” added Smith.
This one moment changed Smith’s football career. He was going to be the starting quarterback for the Jets in 2015. He was going to get his chance to show what he can do after up and down first two seasons. And the punch took that all away from him. Ryan Fitzpatrick took over and he never looked back, throwing for 31 touchdowns and leading the Jets to a 10-6 season. And now once again, Fitzpatrick is the Jets starting quarterback for 2016. So the punch by Enemkpali took Smith’s chance of being a starting quarterback for the Jets away. And only time will tell if Smith will ever get another shot somewhere else.
