New York Jets Quarterback Geno Smith Scoffs at Diva Criticism
By Josh Hill
When West Virginia quarterback Geno Smith took a tumble in the NFL Draft this year, many people initially wondered why. But after a week or so since the draft, numerous writers and NFL scouts have come forward to call the New York Jets quarterback a ‘diva’, claiming he was self-involved during workouts and seemed more interested in his phone and less interested in the people interviewing him.
The notion that Smith is a diva wasn’t helped when he fired his agents after the draft and somehow the blame was pinned on them for Smith’s epic fall into the second round of the draft. But now that he’s heard the criticism, Smith is letting the comments roll off of him as he told USA Today that he has thick skin and doesn’t really care if people are ripping him.
“I don’t worry about what people say — my skin is pretty thick,” Smith said, via USA TODAY Sports. “I’ve never been in trouble.”
The report that claimed Smith was on his phone not unlike a high schooler in class came from Yahoo! Sports, and it’s a report that Smith took the time to try and falsify and shoot down as truth. Smith said that not only was he not on his phone, but he never received the low marks the Yahoo! article claims he got.
“That’s not true,” said Smith flatly. “I got strong remarks from all the teams I visited with. … I couldn’t care less what’s coming out in the media because I know what’s true.”
Smith said that not being the first quarterback taken was tough, but it didn’t ruin the experience of the draft. Reports surfaced after the first day that indicated Smith was leaving New York scorned and wouldn’t be attending the draft after falling out of the first round. Smith denied this as well, saying not returning for the second day was never an option in his mind.
“Parts of the draft experience were tough, but not all of it, Smith said. With that entire process, you can see where some things went wrong. … Coming back on Day 2 was never not an option for me.”
But for now, all of this means little. Even the critiques that he’s a diva aren’t completely relevant as the only thing that truly matters is how Smith performs on the field. All of this will just be a silly memory if Smith comes out and performs well with the Jets, but the ice is thing just because of who he’s playing for and no one’s going to be cutting him any slack or re-directing blame this time around.