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The Jets are hoping that their most prominent addition this off-season — a former most valuable player of the Super Bowl — never takes a snap for them. Such is the plight of a backup quarterback, and that is the new role for the veteran Joe Flacco, who agreed to a one-year deal on Friday as he recovers from neck surgery.
If having a reliable understudy at football’s most important job can preserve a season — just ask New Orleans, which won all five games last year behind Teddy Bridgewater after Drew Brees’s injury, or Philadelphia, which won a championship with Nick Foles — then undervaluing that position can derail it.