Jets sign QB Ramsey to one-year extension

Quarterback Patrick Ramsey, acquired by the New York Jets earlier this spring to compete with the rehabilitating Chad Pennington for the starting job, has signed a one-year contract extension. 

The extension, first reported by the New York Daily News, had been under discussion since the Jets added Ramsey in a deal with the Washington Redskins for a sixth-round draft choice. The add-on is worth $2.1 million and includes a $1.4 million roster bonus next spring. 

The team also made a slight adjustment in Ramsey’s contract for this season, converting $250,000 of his scheduled $1.688 million base salary into a roster bonus that was paid on June 30. Without the extension, Ramsey would have been eligible for unrestricted free agency next spring, because this year represented the final season of his original rookie contract, signed in 2002. 

Even with the extension, there are still no guarantees that Ramsey, 27, will return to the Jets in 2007. The team also owes Pennington, who dramatically adjusted his contract for this season to avoid being released as he recovered from a second surgery to his right rotator cuff, a $2 million roster bonus next spring.  It is unlikely the Jets will pay the two bonuses and retain both veteran quarterbacks beyond this season. 

The Jets selected Kellen Clemens in the second round of this year’s draft and the coaches reportedly were impressed with the former University of Oregon standout in their spring workouts. With the continuing uncertainty over Pennington, who has never played a full 16-game schedule and who has averaged only 8.3 starts over the last three seasons because of injuries, the starting situation remains unsettled. 

First-year coach Eric Mangini has thrown the starting job open and Pennington, Ramsey, Clemens and three-year veteran Brooks Bollinger will compete in camp. 

The Redskins’ first-round choice in the 2002 draft, Ramsey has a 10-14 record as a starter. The former Tulane star has completed 480 of 861 passes for 5,649 yards, with 34 touchdown passes, 29 interceptions and a 75.0 passer rating. Ramsey began the 2005 season as the Redskins’ starter but was replaced by Mark Brunell at halftime of the first game and did not start again all season.  http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2516050