After the failed Justin Fields experiment, the New York Jets are once again searching for a long-term answer at quarterback.<\/p>\n
This time, however, resources will not be in short supply.<\/p>\n
Projected to own more than $90 million in cap space<\/a> while being armed with four selections inside the top 45 of April\u2019s NFL draft, the Jets are positioned to explore every possible avenue. General manager Darren Mougey made that clear<\/a>, saying the team plans to \u201cexhaust all options\u201d when searching for their next quarterback.<\/p>\n Here are five quarterbacks outside of the draft that the Jets could target this offseason.<\/p>\n Free agency<\/p>\n Marcus Mariota<\/p>\n Throughout eight starts for the Washington Commanders this season, Marcus Mariota completed 61.2% of his passing attempts for 1,695 yards, 10 touchdowns, and seven interceptions, while leading Washington to a 2-6 record.<\/p>\n Despite being 32 years old, Mariota is still a threat on the ground, averaging 32 rushing yards per game as a starter in 2025.<\/p>\n The former No. 2 overall pick remains a high-level backup. His 7.5 yards per pass attempt in 2025 ranked 11th among 45 qualified quarterbacks.<\/p>\n Profiling as a dependable bridge option, Mariota could be a fit for the Jets\u2019 timeline.<\/p>\n Mitchell Trubisky<\/p>\n Since being selected second overall by the Chicago Bears in the 2017 NFL draft, Mitchell Trubisky has started 57 games, leading his teams to a 31-26 record while completing 64.4% of his passes for 13,028 yards, 78 touchdowns, and 48 interceptions.<\/p>\n In an uninspiring free-agent quarterback class this offseason, Trubisky could be in line for a bridge opportunity.<\/p>\n While he has not started a game since 2023, when he went 0-2 as the Pittsburgh Steelers\u2019 starter, throwing four touchdowns and five interceptions, Trubisky settled in as a reliable backup for the Buffalo Bills over the past two seasons.<\/p>\n Throughout his time in Buffalo, Trubisky has completed 50 of 69 pass attempts (72.4%) for 492 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions, averaging 7.8 net yards per pass attempt.<\/p>\n Ultimately, the former Bear is a viable bridge option who could compete with a rookie quarterback over the summer.<\/p>\n Malik Willis<\/p>\n Malik Willis is widely viewed as the \u201cbig fish\u201d in the QB free agency class this offseason.<\/p>\n After being selected in the third round of the 2022 NFL draft by the Tennessee Titans, Willis was traded to the Green Bay Packers ahead of the 2024 season in exchange for a seventh-round selection.<\/p>\n His tenure in Tennessee was nothing to write home about. Willis appeared in just 11 games, including three starts, completing 53% of his passes for 350 yards, zero touchdowns, and no interceptions. He had more sacks (14) than passing first downs (12).<\/p>\n After a rocky start to his NFL career, Willis has rebuilt his stock in Green Bay.<\/p>\n Over the past two seasons, Willis made 11 appearances (three starts) with Green Bay, leading the Packers to a 2-1 record while completing 78.7% of his passes for 972 yards, six touchdowns, and no interceptions. Willis averaged an incredible 10.9 yards per pass attempt and also picked up 261 yards and three touchdowns on the ground throughout 42 attempts.<\/p>\n The 26-year-old is expected to be a hot commodity this offseason, but he will most likely want to land somewhere where he would be guaranteed the starting job right away.<\/p>\n The question is, would the Jets want to make that commitment after a similar roll of the dice just failed with Fields?<\/p>\n Trade market<\/p>\n Tanner McKee<\/p>\n Since being selected in the sixth round of the 2023 NFL draft from Stanford, Tanner McKee has spent his career backing up Jalen Hurts in Philadelphia.<\/p>\n However, it appears that he is ready for his shot as an NFL starter.<\/p>\n Throughout six games (two starts), the \u201cMormon Missile\u201d has completed 61.4% of his passing attempts for 597 yards, five touchdowns, and one interception, while averaging 6.8 yards per attempt.<\/p>\n Entering the final year of his sixth-round rookie contract, McKee is a cost-effective option. This is crucial for a team like the Jets, who owe Aaron Rodgers $35M this season and at least $22M more to Justin Fields, assuming New York cuts ties with the Ohio State product.<\/p>\n The 2026 season will be the final year of McKee\u2019s deal, and to acquire him, the Jets probably wouldn\u2019t need to give up much draft capital; most likely, an early day-three selection would get it done.<\/p>\n McKee is a natural fit for a Jets team seeking a low-cost option that still offers some upside, without derailing their potential quarterback draft plans.<\/p>\n Mac Jones<\/p>\n Similar to McKee, Mac Jones is another cheap option who could keep the Jets competitive.<\/p>\n After signing a two-year, $8.4 million contract with the San Francisco 49ers last offseason, Jones has rebuilt his reputation serving as a highly reliable backup option behind Brock Purdy.<\/p>\n In eight starts this season, Jones thrived, completing 69.6% of his passing attempts for 2,151 yards, 13 touchdowns, and six interceptions, while leading the 49ers to a 5-3 record. He led two game-winning drives and finished the season with a career-high 97.4 passer rating.<\/p>\n If the Jets were to acquire Jones, he would count just $3.5 million against their 2026 cap. The cost to trade for the former Alabama quarterback, however, would likely be steeper than for McKee.<\/p>\n A feasible starting point to acquire Jones could be a third-round pick and an additional late-round selection.<\/p>\n Despite that price, Jones arguably stands out as the Jets\u2019 best available bridge option. In 2025, the former first-round pick looked the part of a competent starter.<\/p>\n Granted, Jones benefited from playing under Kyle Shanahan, one of the league\u2019s premier quarterback developers, whose system consistently elevates those who run it.<\/p>\n Still, Jones\u2019 run with the 49ers showed that he can keep a team competitive for an extended stretch of games. He is the type of quarterback who can give Gang Green the flexibility to avoid rushing a rookie into action.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the failed Justin Fields experiment, the New York Jets are once again searching for a long-term answer…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":689758,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[1469,7,3228,226,493,5215,1917,255,2321,2097,6,6531,3229,7823,3916,13786,3234,31834],"class_list":["post-689757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-jets","tag-darren-mougey","tag-football","tag-free-content","tag-jets","tag-justin-fields","tag-mac-jones","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-jets","tag-newyork","tag-newyorkjets","tag-nfl","tag-ny-jets-column","tag-ny-jets-free-agency","tag-ny-jets-image","tag-ny-jets-players","tag-ny-jets-trades","tag-standard","tag-syndication"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115924205965500078","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=689757"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/689757\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/689758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=689757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=689757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=689757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}