Josh McCown the ‘heavy favorite’ to be Jets’ starting QB?

New York Jets head coach Todd Bowles has said the team will hold an open competition at the quarterback position in training camp, but Josh McCown likely has the upper hand early on.

ESPN’s Rich Cimini speculates that McCown, Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty will all get an equal amount of first-team reps over the next several weeks, but he expects McCown to distance himself from the other two by the start of minicamp in mid-June. Cimini went as far as to call McCown, who is 38 and has by far the most experience at the position, the “heavy favorite” to be New York’s Week 1 starter.

Here’s more of Cimini’s prediction:

By the end of minicamp in mid-June, McCown will be the clear-cut front-runner. The depth chart at the start of training camp will be McCown, Hackenberg and Petty, in that order, with little separation between Hackenberg and Petty. I think Bowles must pare the competition to two by the start of camp. With practice restrictions, there’s simply not enough reps to have a three-way battle. Even a two-man rotation can be cumbersome, especially when it comes to splitting playing time in preseason games.

Todd Bowles could be coaching for his job in 2017, so he is likely going to be more worried about winning games than grooming a quarterback of the future. Even if McCown has only won two of his past 22 starts, he was in a terrible situation with the Cleveland Browns the past two seasons. Things probably won’t be much better with the Jets, but McCown is a respected veteran who always gives a max effort.

The Jets used a second-round pick on Hackenberg last year, so they ultimately want him to emerge as a viable starting option. While we recently heard some positive news about the former Penn State star’s development, he’d probably have to blow Bowles away to earn the Week 1 starting job.