Running Down The Jets’ 2025 QB Options
Over the last 25 years, the Jets have received above-average quarterback play maybe four times, the most recent coming from journeyman Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015. Even with a highly-decorated signal caller like Aaron Rodgers under center this past season, Gang Green’s passing attack lagged, with Rodgers ranking in the 20s in everything from QB rating to rbsdm.com’s expected points added per play/completion percentage over expected composite metric.
The Jets have exhausted just about every possible avenue in futile attempts to find their franchise quarterback, from high Draft picks to free agent signings to the trade for Rodgers two years ago. Even those with a good season or two, like Chad Pennington and Fitzpatrick, eventually flamed out.
That brings us to the 2025 offseason, where the Jets have cleaned out their front office and coaching staff for the new arrivals. Somehow, that was the easier part of the franchise’s restructuring. Constructing the roster for the next campaign will be an arduous process rife with difficult decisions.
And there’s no bigger decision than what should be done with the most important position in all of pro sports. Here are the Jets QB options and the likelihood such option will yield their 2025 starter:
1) Run it back with Rodgers
Granted, this would take two to tango, as Rodgers would first have to decide that he wants to play another season—and then choose the Jets. Anyone really think that Rodgers will look at New York’s rookie GM, rookie HC, and rookie Offensive Coordinator and conclude, “That’s for me!” when he probably would have other suitors if freed from this hellhole? Though Rodgers is technically under contract for 2025, the parameters are such that both sides could easily get out of the commitment. Well, not so easily for the Jets, who would be dinged with a $49 million dead money salary cap charge (that can be split over two years if they designate him as a post-June 1 cut). That would still be less pain than if they gave him another season that triggered another $35 million option bonus. There are also football-related reasons to end the experiment. Rodgers just isn’t Rodgers anymore. Maybe being further removed from the Achilles surgery will improve his mobility next season, but that could be offset by his advancement to age 42. From what we witnessed last season, the once elite arm strength and accuracy was sporadic and he kept missing open guys left and right. And he was awful in the clutch. The Jets made two mistakes leading up to this past season: That they were so flush with talent all over the field and that Rodgers by himself could clean up any flaws, including in the coaching department. To repeat from prior posts, it’s best for all parties if Rodgers and the Jets part ways.
Probability: 10%
2) Draft a QB
I do believe the Jets will select a QB during April’s Draft. It just won’t be on Day 1, and maybe not even Day 2. Had they not won meaningless games against Jacksonville and Miami in the last four weeks, they would have been on the clock with the No. 1 overall pick. Then we would have been debating Cam Ward versus Shedeur Sanders. Instead, New York will be picking at No. 7 in a Draft where no other QB is currently projected to go in the first round. A recent ESPN mock had Gang Green tabbing Texas QB Quinn Ewers in Round 2, but others say that’s a reach. Whether it’s Ewers or another QB later in the Draft, have we forgotten all the downsides from when the Jets rushed the development by throwing a QB to the wolves in Week 1? Maybe they should try letting the kid learn the position as a backup first.
Probability: 15%
3) Free agent/trade
External options will be explored, but the QB market will be thin (former Jets first-round bust Sam Darnold might lead the pack after a strong first 16 weeks with loaded Minnesota this past season). The Jets have too many other needs to throw Draft picks and/or cap space at another high-risk proposition like they did with Rodgers. However, I wouldn’t rule out an exception on the other end of the QB spectrum. There will be QBs who flamed out elsewhere and would look at the Jets as perhaps their best bet to earn a starting nod. I wouldn’t be opposed to the Jets giving someone like Justin Fields or Jameis Winston a 1-year deal at a modest pay package as a bridge to the projected better QB class in the 2026 Draft.
Probability: 35%
4) Promote from within
There were Jets fans (not necessarily owner Woody Johnson) who thought Tyrod Taylor deserved a shot after Rodgers’ string of bungled late-game opportunities. That was never going to happen to figurative royalty like Rodgers so long as he could stand upright. However, we’re heading into a new reality, one that can’t logically be labelled as a “win-now” proposition. GM Darren Mougey will need time to clean up the cap sheet from the Joe Douglas excesses (when you add Rodgers to the list of departing Jets free agents who have “void years” in their contracts, the 2025 dead money charge can get crazy) and you can bet that HC Aaron Glenn and his staff won’t be able to hit the ground running at full speed. So maybe this will end up being Taylor’s last NFL starting opportunity for as long as he can stay healthy. I’m not saying he’s the most exciting option, and, at 36, he is by no means a long-term solution. But he isn’t as bad as many believe. He’s a .500 career starter, including a 2-3 mark with the putrid 2023 Giants. He can stretch a defense with his arm and his running ability adds a dimension. Giving him the reins next season with a drafted QB waiting in the wings (unless 2024 fifth-round pick Jordan Travis has a remarkable offseason that proves he can approximate his Florida State form following a harrowing ankle injury that forced him to sit all last season, the Jets should cut bait) would be the smartest move. Which is why I give this idiotic franchise less than a 50/50 chance of going that route.
Probability: 40%