Geno Smith will start Week 1 against the Tampa Buccaneers, the Jets announced Wednesday.
The second round pick out of West Virginia officially won the starting job after Mark Sanchez injured his throwing shoulder against the Giants in the fourth quarter of the third preseason game.
The last time the Jets started a rookie quarterback to start a season was back in 2009 when — guess who — Mark Sanchez took them to the AFC Championship game in head coach Rex Ryan’s first season.
The decision to give Smith the job could spell the end of Sanchez’s time in New York as he is expected to be out at least the first two weeks. By that point, Smith could be entrenched as the quarterback of the future, or at least for the remainder of the season.