The Sports Xchange

FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — The official start of the Todd Bowles/Mike Maccagnan era is still more than two months away for the New York Jets.

But with the offseason program complete, one thing is already clear about the Jets’ new head coach and general manager: Unlike their predecessors, Bowles and Maccagnan speak far louder with their actions than their words.

Former general manager John Idzik liked to preach about stockpiling depth and creating competition so that the Jets would have an environment like the one he left behind at the Seattle Seahawks, his previous employer.

But Idzik, who was nothing more than a deep-in-the-background capologist with the Seahawks, wouldn’t allow veteran quarterback Michael Vick to compete for the starting job last season with Geno Smith and left the Jets almost comically bare at several positions, including cornerback, safety and wide receiver.

In six months on the job, Maccagnan has done more to foster competition than Idzik did during his forgettable 23-month reign.

With Ryan Fitzpatrick and Bryce Petty, Maccagnan has added two legitimate threats to Smith.

Maccagnan also turned a league-worst cornerback unit into a strength with a free-agent spending spree that landed Darrelle Revis, Antonio Cromartie and Buster Skrine, while also collecting running backs and offensive linemen.

The additions at running back, where incumbent Chris Ivory and newcomers Stevan Ridley and Zac Stacy share similar pounding styles, had Bowles legitimately uncertain about his depth chart at the position.

At offensive line, meanwhile, Bowles had so many pieces to play with that he spent much of OTAs mixing and matching to get looks at players at different positions.

“We’re moving a lot of guys around right now,” Bowles said. “When we get the pads on, we’ll see if that’s worth what it is out of pads.”

Bowles also has distinguished himself as the anti-Rex Ryan.

The boisterous Ryan never met a microphone he didn’t like or a grandiose statement he couldn’t make. Ryan declared every year that the Jets would have a top-tier defense and also gushed about players as they excelled out of pads.

Bowles isn’t uncomfortable in front of the press, but he’s also far more cautious than Ryan, as he proved when he refused to take the bait during minicamp when asked about the potential dominance of the Jets’ revamped defense.

“We haven’t played or practiced,” Bowles said. “In shorts and T-shirts on paper, it looks good, but looks aren’t anything. You got to practice.

“You got to work at it day in and day out. Work at your craft and there has got to be cohesiveness there. And that’s what we are trying to build. So time will tell.”

The same applies for Bowles and Maccagnan, but the early signs are certainly encouraging.