The Jets need a starting quarterback for the 2026 season. With the 2026 NFL draft class not appearing to be strong after Indiana’s Fernando Mendoza, NFL Network NFL draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah had another idea that involves an Eagles player.

Jeremiah shared his quarterback plan for the Jets during a media availability Thursday afternoon, ahead of the NFL combine which will begin next week.

“I don’t know what the right answer is this year,” Jeremiah said. “When thinking about them, you’re not taking a quarterback at No. 2 or No. 16 in my opinion. If you want to take a flyer at 33 or 44, I don’t even love that, to be honest. I was looking at a couple names like I would kick the tires on. I don’t know if they’d be available but for (Jets offensive coordinator) Frank Reich, I was thinking about (Tanner) McKee with the Eagles.”

The other quarterback that Jeremiah mentioned was Houston Texans backup quarterback Davis Mills.

“Those are a couple guys I’d be curious about taking a flyer on for a year if you could trade a mid-round pick,” Jeremiah said. I don’t think I would lean in the direction of the draft for their quarterback this year. I think they will be all in for that next year.”

McKee, 25, has appeared in six career games, starting in two of them. In those games, he completed 61.4% of his passes (54 of 88) for five touchdowns and an interception. McKee has relied on accuracy and getting the ball out quickly as part of his game. While not a dual-threat quarterback, McKee can move in the pocket and avoid immediate pressure.

He also is entering the final year of his rookie deal. As a sixth-round selection in the 2023 draft, he is slated to earn $1.1 million in 2026.

The 2027 quarterback draft class is expected to include Arch Manning (Texas), Dante Moore (Oregon) and Julian Sayin (Ohio State), who will all be heavily coveted and could go high in the first round. One way the Jets could land one of those quarterbacks is by leveraging their current draft capital to position themselves for 2027.

“They’re obviously armed with ammunition in that draft and I wouldn’t be surprised if at No. 33, which is always a pick that I think has some value and as teams go to sleep and come back and look at who’s still on the board and they could, trade down and pick up another asset next year’s draft, I think that would make some sense.”