Jets quarterback Josh McCown is 38 years old and has four children. He wants to make it clear he does not have six, even though fellow quarterbacks Christian Hackenberg and Bryce Petty are closer to his oldest daughter’s age than to his.
McCown was asked this week if he ever uses his parental experience in dealing with his young teammates.
“Sometimes it may come out, but I’m trying not to because we’re still colleagues in a sense,” McCown said. “I’m trying to share experiences with them, but at the same time you don’t want them to feel like [I’m above them]. We’re in different stages of life and just like with football, if there are things that I can share with them about my life – we’re an open book. That’s what’s fun about this business is you get in here and you build relationships with people, and you share life experiences together especially when you meet somebody and you’re on different planes like this.
“I’m trying to share things like maybe down the road when they have their first kids, maybe they’ll help you be better in this moment than I was in that moment. This is where I struggled in this area, but I could’ve been better here. Same thing as we do in football. I think that’s the fun thing. You get in that room, you share life, and you grow together. It was cool to see when Kurt [Warner] was inducted the other day into the Hall of Fame. That was a guy that I did that with, that he did that with me. It was special to see him up there getting inducted because it just reminded me of this journey and of being together with these guys. And how fun it is to be in the locker room and share your life and hopefully be able to just come alongside each other and just encourage one another.”
The Jets coaches have been evaluating players in practice since the spring. But Saturday night will be the first time to see them in a game. How much weight do the preseason games carry versus practices?
“It carries a little more,” Jets coach Todd Bowles said. “Practice carries a lot because you see them every day. You don’t want to see the same mistakes. You see common mistakes in practice and you see them, more so, because it’s every day and then it’s who performs under the lights. It’s about a two-to-one grade for your final exam as opposed to turning in assignments every day. As the preseason goes, mistakes happen less and less and continue to improve as the preseason goes, then we’ll have a decision.”