The nice thing about academic jobs is that you can only take one of them. This "clogging up jobs" narrative is nonsense. At worst, a candidate might delay offers while they make up their mind, but that doesn't matter.
Wow, you have no idea what you're talking about. Go back to studying for comps.
Honestly, the whole process is so peculiar and there are so many factors that are out of your control that you really can't get worked up about who is on the market with you at any given time. Just apply.
The only thing one knows for certain is that you won't be offered the job if you don't apply. The job market sucks. It sucks even for people who get 10 interviews (because even that many interviews rarely turns into 10 offers, so somebody rejected you along the way).