CORTLAND, N.Y. -- New York Jets wide receiver Braylon Edwards has a message for teammate Mark Sanchez: Watch out, this Geno Smith kid is good.

Edwards has been around Smith for only a couple of days, but he said Friday that the rookie has a serious approach that reminds him of a former Seattle Seahawks teammate -- Russell Wilson. A lofty comparison, to be sure.

"It's going to be a battle," Edwards said of the Jets' quarterback competition. "Mark can't make mistakes like he has in the past. Things have to be legit with Mark for him to be the starter because he has a legit guy knocking at the back door."

The showdown began for real Friday, the first day of practice.

Before a relatively small crowd at SUNY Cortland, both quarterbacks got off to a nice start, neither committing a turnover and Smith showing off a big arm.

Edwards was impressed. He has been around several rookie quarterbacks in his 10 seasons, including Sanchez (2009) and the San Francisco 49ers' Colin Kaepernick (2011), and he said Smith has Wilson-like intangibles.

"Russell was a maniac when it came to studying film, breaking down film and asking questions," Edwards said. "Russell was a beast at that. That's what I see potentially in Geno, how he comes in the huddle, how he asks questions in meetings. He's right there with Mark."

Smith has a ways to go, especially with his grasp of Marty Mornhinweg's West Coast system. At West Virginia, Smith was used almost exclusively in shotgun, so this is a big transition. There were a couple of hiccups in practice.