For many years, the New York Jets have been in purgatory, and their fans have been suffering season after season. They haven’t made the playoffs since 2010, and they have failed to find a legitimate franchise quarterback for what seems like forever.
The last time their starting quarterback made the Pro Bowl was 2008, when an aging Brett Favre threw for 3,472 yards and 22 touchdowns, numbers that were below par for him. A strong argument could be made that the Jets haven’t had a true franchise quarterback since the days of Joe Namath in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
With Justin Fields running their offense and playing at a subpar level, they enter Sunday’s game against the surging Baltimore Ravens with a 2-8 record while being ranked 26th in scoring, 28th in total yards and dead last in passing yards. At this point, Fields clearly isn’t the player people thought he could be after he had been a big star at Ohio State University.
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Usually, the one silver lining of suffering through the type of season New York is having is the hope of getting a very high draft pick and possibly nabbing a savior in the draft. However, as multiple NFL executives noted in a recent article by Jeff Howe of The Athletic, the 2026 draft won’t exactly be rich with potential-laden signal-callers.
"Nobody is playing the position well enough to be like, ‘That dude can take over my franchise,'" said an NFL team executive who was granted anonymity so he could speak openly.
A few months ago, many expected Arch Manning of Texas Tech University, the nephew of Peyton and Eli Manning, to declare himself eligible for the 2026 draft. But it is now very likely he will remain in school next fall, which will leave a very underwhelming crop of quarterbacks available in April.
"I don't love any of (the quarterbacks) right now," a second executive said. "We're trying to grasp onto somebody because there isn't anybody, and it's such a flavor of the week. Good luck right now."
The 2024 draft class was rich in quarterbacks whom teams loved, including Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, the first three players taken. This year’s draft was less enticing in terms of quarterbacks, and 2026 could be even worse.
"Overall, we were hoping it was going to be better than last year," a third executive said. "There was a hangover from such a good class two years ago. There were more projected (quarterbacks) coming into this year, but the expectations of the higher-end players never really materialized. Some of the younger guys are leaning toward going back because they haven't played well and are making the NIL money."
The money available to college players via NIL deals has definitely changed the game, not just in football but also in basketball. There is now, at least at times, reason for players to stay in school for an additional year rather than come into the league and play for a team that won’t have the infrastructure to help them succeed right away.
It definitely seems as if the Jets don’t have the infrastructure they need to nurture a young QB and help him become his best self. In recent years, they drafted Geno Smith and Sam Darnold, both of whom floundered in their initial seasons with the Jets, only to watch them blossom later on with other teams.
Perhaps the first thing New York needs before a messiah quarterback is a regime change that will bring vision, leadership and a detailed plan for action to the struggling franchise.
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