Punch just latest evidence that Geno Smith's critics were on target

NEW YORK -- It took Geno Smith far too long to catch on. But it appears the gravity of the potential damage he's done to his career finally hit him in the past week. Smith and everyone around him have gone underground.

But it didn't happen before that Instagram photo of Smith was posted with the Schwarzenegger-esque promise "I'll be back!" the same day then-teammate IK Enemkpali broke his jaw in the locker room fight. The sight of first-yearNew York Jetshead coach Todd Bowles scoffing and basically telling reporters you're damn right Smith could lose his starting quarterback job because of his injury might have something to do with the disappearing act.

The last nudge seems to have been the reprimand Smith got from the Jets after a New York Post stakeout outside Smith's New Jersey home resulted in a photo of a shirtless Smith defying doctors' orders and playing catch with a football, even though he was just out of surgery to insert a plate and screws into his mending jaw. Once again, Bowles -- who didn't let Smith off the hook for the altercation with Enemkpali, saying "it takes two to tango" -- was highly displeased.

Smith had better soon realize that he still has a chance to quit living down to the pre-draft questions about his leadership skills, judgment and maturity that sent him spiraling out of the first round and into the lap of a clueless Jets regime led by rookie general manager John Idzik, who drafted Smith in the second round in 2013 and was fired after two seasons.

But Smith doesn't have much time to change opinions around the league. His contract expires after next season. He's not even a lock to be back after this season.

Smith's mother, who helps run a counseling service for single parents in the Miami area, flew to New Jersey to be with him this week. John Thornton, a registered agent and sometime adviser to Smith, said in a brief phone interview that Smith has no intention of giving any interviews right now, not even to give his version of what led to him being punched by Enemkpali.

News reports have said the beef was over an unpaid $600 debt for an airline ticket after Smith backed out of the second-year linebacker's football camp in Texas. Smith reportedly missed the camp without notifying Enemkpali because a family friend had been killed in Florida.

Friends of Enemkpali have since said that Smith was the provoker in the locker room incident. Bowles was the most notable voice among those in the Jets' camp who have placed at least part of the blame on Smith.

Thus far, receiver Brandon Marshall is the only Jets player to unequivocally say Smith wasn't at fault for the incident. And even then it took Marshall, who stayed with Smith after being traded from the Bears to the Jets this offseason, an entire week to finally step up. Meanwhile, Enemkpali was picked up by the Bills the day after his release and told reporters in Buffalo that many of his ex-Jets teammates had reached out to check on him -- which was taken as another backhanded slap at Smith's stature within his own team.

At this point, Smith should be concerned that these questions now swirling around him about his leadership, his awareness and his maturity aren't new. They were raised in the scouting reports that began leaking out about him two years ago, in the days before and after he fell to the second round of the draft and fired his agents.

At one point Smith actually fancied himself having a shot at being the No. 1 overall pick after he left West Virginia. But as draft day approached, Nolan Nawrocki, then a draft analyst for Pro Football Weekly, put out a highly controversial report saying Smith was "not a student of the game. Nonchalant field presence -- does not command respect from teammates and cannot inspire. ... Needed to be coddled in college -- cannot handle hard coaching."

After Smith indeed fell down the board, Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports cited two league sources who echoed many of the same themes. One unidentified league source told Cole that Smith "doesn't have much presence, not much of a leader. I don't think he's a bad person, but that's not enough to be a quarterback in this league."

Cole quoted another source on Smith's biggest problem: "He doesn't know what he doesn't know. I'm not sure he knows how to take instruction because he pretty much wouldn't listen or talk to our coaches ... he's talented. He can sling it, he can fit it into tight spots, he can do a lot of things and I think he wants to be good. But you can't tell him anything right now. He's tuned out because he thinks he's got it all down."

A few months later, West Virginia head coach Dana Holgorsen had to clarify what he meant after he said the Mountaineers' fade from a fast start to a lousy finish and a bowl game loss in Smith's final season was due to a lack of leadership. Holgorsen insisted he didn't intend the remarks to be a swipe at Smith, a team co-captain. But not everyone believed him.

Now this: Smith's scuffle with Enemkpali. It was the worst example yet that Smith hasn't done enough in his first two seasons with the Jets to acquit himself of the criticism. Even before he suffered the broken jaw, Smith had been mocked in New York for three 2014 incidents: getting thrown off a Virgin America flight in Los Angeles for refusing the flight crew's orders to turn off his cellphone; missing a Jets meeting the night before a game against San Diego because he was at the movies and got the time change wrong; and cursing out a home fan at MetLife Stadium.

In short, Smith's behavior since The Punch has brought the old concerns about him before The Punch boomeranging back around. It has given the old raps on him new currency.

"You're right -- this latest incident is reminiscent of exactly the sort of things that were being said about him before the draft," said a former NFL general manager who studied whether to select Smith and decided against it. "I don't want to blast the kid and get into the exact wording that was in the reports. But basically we went to his practices and noticed he just had a kind of nonchalant attitude. Not a lot of competitiveness there. Just real loosey-goosey, almost. Like he was there to have fun. And there were concerns about where he was as a leader. Those were conversations we had and I'm sure all 32 teams had as well."

Smith doesn't seem to realize that much is given to franchise quarterbacks because much is expected. Today's NFL teams are billion-dollar operations. The league rules are geared toward rewarding offenses and terrific quarterback play. Teammates depend on you.

There's simply no room for wannabe starting quarterbacks who don't understand the level of responsibility that goes with playing the most important position on the team. Or that those responsibilities include not jeopardizing your season or your team's season and locker room harmony over a $600 disagreement.

"I mean, why not just pay the $600 and move on?" the former GM said. "It's a shame."

In the past, Smith's supporters wondered out loud if some of the things said about him were just code words, blatant expressions of the sort of racist stuff that African-American quarterbacks have had to deal with all too often.

But with every misstep or tone-deaf flub Smith commits, he makes the prophecies about him look more color-blind. He's revived the doubts.

He's the one that looks blind to some important realities.

If Smith is smart, maybe he can use these six to 10 weeks of recovery time to plan how he can come back a more astute, more serious-minded, more self-aware teammate and player. If this isn't a wake-up call, you wonder if there is any hope for him.

He finally has to get that there really are certain behaviors that aren't acceptable for an NFL quarterback. And losing the guys in your own locker room, rather than rallying them around you, sits at the top of the list.