The New York Jets pulled the plug on the Justin Fields experiment after just one season. They benched him to close out the year, shipped him to Kansas City, and traded for Geno Smith to take the reins of the offense.
Landing Smith, who was bound to be released by the Las Vegas Raiders, was admittedly not the most exciting move for Jets fans. In fact, it wasn’t even the first move they tried to make, according to ESPN insider Rich Cimini.
Talking to Gary Myers on “The Saturday Huddle,” Cimini revealed that the Jets kept tabs on several backup quarterbacks before landing Smith:
"They looked into trading for guys like Tanner McKee, Davis Mills, and Mac Jones. Those teams were asking for second-round picks for these guys," Cimini revealed. "Exorbitant prices."
The San Francisco 49ers have been vocal about their desire to keep Jones for the remainder of his contract after he did such a nice job backing up the injured Brock Purdy last season. As for Davis Mills, one could argue that the Houston Texans’ offense is as good and efficient with him on the field as with C.J. Stroud.
As for Tanner McKee, the Jets were reportedly intrigued by his potential ahead of the 2025 NFL Draft before he ended up with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Whatever the case, it looks like this will now be Geno Smith’s team again, at least for another season. He was far from good in his lone season with the Las Vegas Raiders, but plenty of that may also have to do with Chip Kelly’s offensive system and miscues and the Raiders’ subpar offensive line.
The Jets will most likely focus on a deep QB class of 2027 to find their signal-caller for the future, a position that has given this organization headaches for more than a decade now.
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