This is the second in a two-part series examining the Jets’ options at quarterback. We examined veteran options in the first part and now we take a look at what the Jets could do in the NFL draft.
When it comes to quarterbacks, the Jets and the NFL draft, they might have to adopt the old rallying cry of the Brooklyn Dodgers and “Wait Till Next Year.”
The Jets find themselves in an unbelievable situation this year where they have the No. 2 overall pick in a draft where only one quarterback — Fernando Mendoza — is seen as worth taking at the top of the draft.
If the Jets can’t find a quarterback in this year’s draft, the expectation is that they can find one in 2027 when the Jets have three first-round picks to use as ammunition to trade up if they need to.
The 2027 draft is viewed as having many quarterbacks worth a top pick, but we are 13 months away from that and Arch Manning, Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers all have a college season to play and things can change.
“It’s a weird place [for the Jets] to be in if I’m being frank and being honest,” said former Titans general manager Ran Carthon, who is now an analyst for SiriusXM, “just because if you remember like we came into the 2025 draft saying that, ‘Oh my god, like, you just wait, the 2026 draft class is gonna be loaded.’ And there are good players in this draft, but then now we’re saying that for 2027. You know, like 2027 is going to be loaded.”
NFL Network analyst Charles Davis points out that at this time last year, we would have thought Manning would be the potential No. 1 pick in 2026.
“If you and I had talked at this time last year, we would have been like, ‘Hey man, that 2026 class is loaded.’ That is not revisionist history,” Davis said. “Now, we’re talking about, ‘I don’t know about these guys.’ Things change quickly in both directions. [Joe] Burrow was not supposed to be the dude, he ended up being the dude. Zach Wilson wasn’t supposed to be the dude and he ended up being the guy. We can go right on down the line through the years.”
The idea of waiting until 2027 sounds great unless you are coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey and need to win games after a 3-14 rookie campaign.
Will they feel pressure to take a quarterback this year even if they’re not in love with one?
The one quarterback viewed as a true wild card in this year’s draft is Alabama’s Ty Simpson.
If you were ranking quarterbacks halfway through the last college season, Simpson may have been No. 1, but he faded down the stretch and did not play well in his final four games.
He also only started 15 college games, and most teams want quarterbacks to have started 25 games or more to feel that they are ready for the NFL.
“In my mind, he’s a second-round quarterback,” Davis said. “But that’s me and I’m not the one picking for teams. Him going in the first round feels like it’s gaining momentum and understandably, but I think in a perfect world I’d want a guy that I’m picking that high to have more than 15 college starts. Anthony Richardson doesn’t help the case.”
Richardson made 13 college starts before the Colts took him No. 4 overall in 2023. Now, they are expected to trade him this offseason after he flopped as their starter.
It’s clear the Jets can’t take Simpson at No. 2, but what about at No. 16, the pick they received from the Colts in the Sauce Gardner trade? Most draft experts have Simpson going late in the first round.
Davis suggested the Jets could try to trade back from 16, pick up some assets and take Simpson in the 20s.
“If I’m the Jets at 2 and 16, I’m going to try to get to a more advantageous place to try to make sure I get him,” Davis said. “If they can drop down and get another pick or two and still find a way to get him, that makes sense. Sixteen would be a very interesting spot for his name to be called.
“I think the Jets are in a really tough spot at 16, but we are in an era if you like a guy, you better not let the number tell you otherwise.”
After Simpson, there is a drop-off at the position.
The next group, expected to go on Day 2 or early on Day 3 of the draft are Penn State’s Drew Allar, LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier and Miami’s Carson Beck. None of them would be viewed as Day 1 starters and they possibly would be No. 3 quarterbacks as rookies.
Beck is an interesting case because he is the opposite of Simpson. He started 43 games in college at Georgia and Miami. Some recent quarterbacks who had long college careers and have played well early in their NFL career include Brock Purdy with the 49ers and Tyler Shough with the Saints.
“[Beck] played in the system at Georgia where it was kind of restrictive. And his job was to play complementary football and manage it because they had such a strong defense,” Carthon said. “And then even though they had a strong defense in Miami, you know, he had the keys to the offense for Miami, so he’s played in both style systems and understands how to operate in them, which would make him intriguing, like if I’m the Jets, you know, at [No.] 33 or 44 whatever the case may be.”
Unless Mougey can somehow convince the Raiders to trade the No. 1 pick, the Jets look like they are staring at a year with a bridge quarterback, hoping that their franchise savior is there in the 2027 draft.
“It’s amazing,” former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason said. “It’s a crapshoot. It really is, and the Jets are really in a real bad spot.”
Like their Brooklyn Dodgers ancestors, the Jets know all too well what it feels like to say “Wait Till Next Year.”