Jets QB Geno Smith Out 6-10 Weeks After 'Sucker Punch' From Teammate

It had been awhile since the New York Jets made news for a stupid, off-the-field incident. You can flip that counter back to zero.

Quarterback Geno Smith was sucker-punched during a locker-room altercation by linebacker Ikemefuna Enemkpali and suffered a broken jaw, coach Todd Bowles announced on Tuesday.

The scuffle originated over $600 that Smith owed Enemkpali, ESPN’s Adam Schefter said on his Facebook page Tuesday evening. Smith was scheduled to appear at Enemkpali’s high school football camp in Pfugerville, Texas, and Enemkpali bought him an airline ticket worth $600, according to Schefter.

Smith couldn’t attend the camp, and Enemkpali wanted him to pay it back. Smith had agreed, Schefter says, but hadn’t paid the money back yet.

Smith was expected to be the team’s week-one starter before the incident. Schefter said Smith’s jaw is broken in two places and he’ll miss six to 10 weeks.

The Jets, quite promptly, released Enemkpali and picked up cornerback Javier Arenas.

While in college at Louisiana Tech, Enemkpali punched an off-duty cop, according to ESPN:

He was arrested and charged with battery on a police officer and disturbing the peace/drunk, according to court records. The charge was amended to simple battery and he received a suspended jail sentence and was placed on 13 months probation. He also was ordered to perform 32 hours of community service and to complete an anger management course.

“It was something very childish, something sixth-graders could’ve talked about,” Bowles said, according to ESPN, about the Tuesday incident. “It had no reason to happen.”

Three other quarterbacks are listed on the Jets roster aside from Smith: veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick and rookie quarterbacks Bryce Petty and Jake Heaps.

Fitzpatrick has 11 years of NFL experience, most recently with the Tennessee Titans, where he started nine games last season.

Petty was a fourth-round draft pick out of Baylor, where he led the Bears to Big 12 titles in 2013 and 2014. In his last game in college, he threw for a Cotton-Bowl record 550 yards in a loss to Michigan State and was named the game’s offensive MVP.

Heaps was undrafted after a college career at BYU, Kansas and Miami.

Smith responded to the incident on Instagram almost immediately after it happened:

Predictably, Wikipedia was hot on the case:

Image via Wikimedia