FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) — Frank Reich had to think for a second while raving — again — about Geno Smith, pondering the New York Jets quarterback's age.
“I don't know how old he is. Isn't he past 35?,” the offensive coordinator asked Friday before being told Smith is actually 35. “It feels like he's 28. I'm telling you, it feels like physically, I see no ... like, he is in his prime, physically.”
Not bad for a quarterback entering his 14th NFL season, a journey that began as a second-round draft pick of the Jets in 2013 and has included several ups and downs on the field along the way.
“Like his arm, the way he moves, his feet in the pocket, he’s physically in his prime,” said Reich, in his first season running the Jets' offense. “So he takes great care of himself and that’s going to help this team.”
New York certainly hopes so. The Jets acquired Smith in the offseason from Las Vegas to add a veteran quarterback to an offense that struggled mightily during a 3-14 season. The Jets ranked last or near the bottom in several offensive categories as the likes of Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor and Brady Cook took turns calling the signals for then-coordinator Tanner Engstrand. Their 8 yards per completion was the lowest mark in the NFL, and that's something that's expected to improve significantly.
Smith has always been able to stretch the field, especially during three straight seasons of at least 3,500 yards passing in Seattle from 2022-24. He threw for 3,025 last year in a down season with Las Vegas that included an NFL-leading 17 interceptions.
Back with the Jets, Smith has had a mostly good training camp. And he has thoroughly impressed Reich, who said during minicamp that the quarterback has an “elite” football mind. Reich was back gushing about Smith on Friday.
“Geno’s the leader,” Reich said. "He’s the leader of the offense, make no mistake about it, in every way, shape and form. And to me, what has become crystal clear in this early time in training camp, the attribute that sticks out to me is his laser focus. This man is laser focused like people don’t understand. Like, he comes to work and he is locked in.
“And I feel like the whole offense plays off of that. That’s a really big deal.”
Reich has seen what leadership looks like from a quarterback. He was a longtime backup to Jim Kelly as a player and has coached Peyton Manning, Philip Rivers, Andrew Luck and Matt Ryan.
The offensive coordinator also knows what good quarterback play looks like. And he sees all of that in Smith, granted, still in the protected, no-contact confines of training camp.
“I remember when he was coming out (of college), I had a high grade on him,” Reich said. “His throwing mechanics, if I'm just talking pure upper-body mechanics, they're pure. There's only a couple guys in the league that I would say are pure. Geno's one of them.”
Smith has also been drawing positive reviews from his teammates, who have praised his leadership since re-joining the Jets.
“Geno is a legend to guys like me,” fifth-year tight end Jelani Woods said. “He’s been in the league for a long time. You look up to him, just the professionalism he has, it’s something that you look into and he’s one of those guys that you go up to and talk to him at any time. He sits with you at the lunch table, he sits with anybody at the lunch table and you just have a simple conversation with him and just talk about life outside of football.
"And, you know, stuff like that goes a long way.”
—
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
New York Jets' offensive coordinator Frank Reich, left, and Garrett Wilson participate in a drill during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp in Florham Park, N.J., Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith throws during practice at the team’s NFL football training camp in Florham Park, N.J., Thursday, July 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
CAMP GRAYLING, Mich. (AP) — The U.S. Army said Friday that it is opening up test ranges to private companies developing missiles, drones and other weapons in hopes of buying them more quickly for use on the battlefield.
Army Secretary Dan Driscoll told reporters at a military testing range in Michigan that the effort will cut months and sometimes years of the red tape that typically stifles military contractors. He pledged to grant companies access to ranges in the U.S. or those belonging to allies abroad within 30 days of them making a request through an online marketplace that went live Friday.
“It can take 12 to 18 months for a company that wants to go test the thing that can make a soldier’s life better, that can increase their lethality and that can keep them safer," Driscoll said. "That is not sufficient.”
The announcement comes as warfare rapidly changes around the globe, from the swarms of Shahed drones that Iran launched against American forces in the Middle East to Ukraine's innovations in drone technology while defending against Russia's invasion. But the Army is also opening its ranges as the Pentagon grapples with the costs of the Iran war, which has diminished the nation's stockpiles of advanced weapons that sometimes cost millions of dollars for a single missile or interceptor.
Driscoll told The Associated Press that policy changes such as making test ranges more accessible were driven in part by his observations of the war in Ukraine and how quickly that country has moved to produce new weapon systems. The Army secretary had been a key interlocutor during talks between Russia and Ukraine last year before those negotiations stalled.
Pentagon leaders have been trying to increase the tempo of production by incentivizing smaller companies to enter the market to build cheap and effective weapons. Driscoll told reporters that the Army aims to “break down every single barrier that we have put up over the last 20 or 30 years.”
“We are inviting industry to get in the mud with our soldiers, to innovate, to invest behind them,” Driscoll said in a roundtable call. “And then our commitment as an Army is we will purchase the things that will make our soldiers more lethal, more safe, and keep our country safer.”
The first company to take advantage of the new program has tested a new cruise missile at the Army’s missile test range in Morocco.
Abby Denburg, an executive with Covenant Industries, said the company “demonstrated not only the performance of the Anthem missile but also a repeatable pathway now available to every company.”
The program allows drone and missile companies to use five Army ranges to test new rockets, drones and anti-drone weapons even if that company does not have a military contract.
The effort to get weapons faster to the battlefield comes as a recent think tank analysis found that the conflict with Iran has used up more of the U.S. military’s already diminished stockpiles of advanced interceptors such as Patriot and THAAD missiles that are used to defend against air threats such as missiles and drones.
The analysis, conducted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, also noted that this shortfall could force the U.S. and its Middle Eastern allies to take more risks to conserve those air defenses.
President Donald Trump has pushed back on media coverage about the issue, telling reporters Thursday that “we need more all the time.” He claimed that certain kinds of munitions are in “virtually unlimited supply” and others are “a little bit tighter.” He didn’t offer more specifics.
Driscoll deflected questions about the nation's munitions stockpiles. He said that “we have a larger arsenal than any nation in the history of the world, and we will have an even larger arsenal with new and different and layered defenses.”
Associated Press writer Ben Finley in Washington contributed to this report.
FILE - Army Secretary Dan Driscoll speaks at the United States Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., during the Pennsylvania Defense and Innovation Summit, July 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
In this image provided by the U.S. Army, Covenant Industries' Anthem missile is tested Thursday, Aug. 6, 2026, at the Multidomain Training Area range complex, a component of the Africa Multidomain Training and Experimentation Center, in Morocco. (U.S. Army via AP)
