Geno Smith signs rookie contract with Jets

Geno Smith hopes to the Jets' starting quarterback at some point in 2013. (Photo: Ed Mulholland, USA TODAY Sports)

Geno Smith has said he hopes to win the New York Jets starting quarterback role when training camp opens Friday.

The rookie quarterback took a big step Monday when he signed his first deal with the New York Jets, according to team spokesman Bruce Speight.

The contract is believed to be worth close to $5 million over four years based on his slotting as the 39th overall pick in April's draft.

Smith, who played collegiately at West Virginia, was at the team's Florham Park, N.J., complex Monday morning along with fellow rookies and quarterbacks, including incumbent starter Mark Sanchez, whom Smith will duel for the starting job.

"My son is a leader, he's taken everything in stride. And we have a lot of confidence in this young man because of how he's carried himself as a young a 22-year-old," his mother, Tracey Sellers, told USA TODAY Sports.

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"The dust has settled. He has to go to work now. And we just have to let the competition play out. ... Football is what got him here. And football is what he needs to go do now."

Sellers was back in Miami after spending the weekend in New York with her son.

Smith had a stressful draft experience when he tumbled out of the first round and fired his agents, settling afterward with Jay Z's Roc Nation Sports. Smith's representative at the firm, Kimberly Miale, did not immediately respond to USA TODAY Sports' attempt to reach her for specific terms of the deal.

"Geno has embarked on his dream since he was 8," Sellers said. "To be a part of this now is an amazing feeling. It does come with its ups and downs. It comes with the territory. We couldn't ask for him to be with a better organization than the Jets.

"He's been home for the last couple of weeks, taking care of his business."

Now it's time to take care of the most important business - trying winning the job from inconsistent Sanchez.

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