Rex Ryan Happy to Go Into '09 With Kellen Clemens, Brett Ratliff

By most accounts, the Jets were very successful over the opening weekend of free agency. Linebacker Bart Scott and cornerback Lito Sheppard should pay immediate dividends, particularly in new head coach Rex Ryan's blitz-happy scheme.

The team also added former Ravens safety Jim Leonhard and re-signed guard Brandon Moore. All in all, not a bad few day's work. But even though this team is better -- at least on paper -- there's the lingering issue of who will replace Brett Favre. (Putting aside, for the moment, your thoughts on Favre's effectiveness, the point remains: there's a void at the quarterback position. The only question is if you think that's been the case for a couple months or a couple years.)

Nonetheless, the Jets haven't yet had a veteran free-agent quarterback in for a visit, and it doesn't sounds like they will.

One can argue that the Jets are taking a chance by not signing a veteran quarterback, but Ryan insists the organization is ready to go to battle with either Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff. The thinking here is that a Jeff Garcia or Byron Leftwich would be only stop-gap measures and the Jets need to find out if one of their current guys is the answer.

Fair enough, and last season's dalliance with Favre already put the organization a year behind schedule. Plus, Ryan saw firsthand what a young quarterback can do when he's surrounded by a stifling defense and a solid running game. Joe Flacco won 11 games as a Ravens' rookie and made it all the way to the conference championship game, doing little more than handing off and completing a few play-action passes to Derrick Mason.

And if Ryan's telling the truth, he thinks Clemens is capable of as much. One problem: this strategy only works if the defense is regularly able to dominate opponents. But Ryan already knows this. Obviously.