{"id":792787,"date":"2026-03-05T03:18:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:18:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792787\/"},"modified":"2026-03-05T03:18:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-05T03:18:17","slug":"how-jets-could-pick-a-quarterback-in-2026-nfl-draft-just-not-at-no-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/792787\/","title":{"rendered":"How Jets could pick a quarterback in 2026 NFL Draft \u2014 just not at No. 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the second in a two-part series examining the Jets\u2019 options at quarterback. We examined veteran options in the first part<\/a> and now we take a look at what the Jets could do in the NFL draft.<\/p>\n

When it comes to quarterbacks, the Jets and the NFL draft, they might have to adopt the old rallying cry of the Brooklyn Dodgers and \u201cWait Till Next Year.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Jets find themselves in an unbelievable situation this year where they have the No. 2 overall pick in a draft where only one quarterback \u2014 Fernando Mendoza \u2014 is seen as worth taking at the top of the draft.<\/p>\n

If the Jets can\u2019t find a quarterback in this year\u2019s draft, the expectation is that they can find one in 2027 when the Jets have three first-round picks to use as ammunition to trade up if they need to. <\/p>\n

The 2027 draft is viewed as having many quarterbacks worth a top pick, but we are 13 months away from that and Arch Manning, Dante Moore, LaNorris Sellers all have a college season to play and things can change.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a weird place [for the Jets] to be in if I\u2019m being frank and being honest,\u201d said former Titans general manager Ran Carthon, who is now an analyst for SiriusXM, \u201cjust because if you remember like we came into the 2025 draft saying that, \u2018Oh my god, like, you just wait, the 2026 draft class is gonna be loaded.\u2019 And there are good players in this draft, but then now we\u2019re saying that for 2027. You know, like 2027 is going to be loaded.\u201d<\/p>\n

NFL Network analyst Charles Davis points out that at this time last year, we would have thought Manning would be the potential No. 1 pick in 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you and I had talked at this time last year, we would have been like, \u2018Hey man, that 2026 class is loaded.\u2019 That is not revisionist history,\u201d Davis said. \u201cNow, we\u2019re talking about, \u2018I don\u2019t know about these guys.\u2019 Things change quickly in both directions. [Joe] Burrow was not supposed to be the dude, he ended up being the dude. Zach Wilson wasn\u2019t supposed to be the dude and he ended up being the guy. We can go right on down the line through the years.\u201d<\/p>\n

The idea of waiting until 2027 sounds great unless you are coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey and need to win games after a 3-14 rookie campaign. <\/p>\n

\"PennPenn State quarterback Drew Allar throws a pass during an NFL Combine workout on Feb. 28, 2026. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Will they feel pressure to take a quarterback this year even if they\u2019re not in love with one?<\/p>\n

The one quarterback viewed as a true wild card in this year\u2019s draft is Alabama\u2019s Ty Simpson. <\/p>\n

If you were ranking quarterbacks halfway through the last college season, Simpson may have been No. 1, but he faded down the stretch and did not play well in his final four games. <\/p>\n

He also only started 15 college games, and most teams want quarterbacks to have started 25 games or more to feel that they are ready for the NFL. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my mind, he\u2019s a second-round quarterback,\u201d Davis said. \u201cBut that\u2019s me and I\u2019m not the one picking for teams. Him going in the first round feels like it\u2019s gaining momentum and understandably, but I think in a perfect world I\u2019d want a guy that I\u2019m picking that high to have more than 15 college starts. Anthony Richardson doesn\u2019t help the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richardson made 13 college starts before the Colts took him No. 4 overall in 2023. Now, they are expected to trade him this offseason after he flopped as their starter.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s clear the Jets can\u2019t take Simpson at No. 2, but what about at No. 16, the pick they received from the Colts in the Sauce Gardner trade? Most draft experts have Simpson going late in the first round. <\/p>\n

Davis suggested the Jets could try to trade back from 16, pick up some assets and take Simpson in the 20s.<\/p>\n

\"MiamiMiami quarterback Carson Beck throws a pass during an NFL Combine workout on Feb. 28, 2026. AP<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019m the Jets at 2 and 16, I\u2019m going to try to get to a more advantageous place to try to make sure I get him,\u201d Davis said. \u201cIf they can drop down and get another pick or two and still find a way to get him, that makes sense. Sixteen would be a very interesting spot for his name to be called.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the Jets are in a really tough spot at 16, but we are in an era if you like a guy, you better not let the number tell you otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Simpson, there is a drop-off at the position. <\/p>\n

The next group, expected to go on Day 2 or early on Day 3 of the draft are Penn State\u2019s Drew Allar, LSU\u2019s Garrett Nussmeier and Miami\u2019s Carson Beck. None of them would be viewed as Day 1 starters and they possibly would be No. 3 quarterbacks as rookies.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the insider\u2019s view on Gang Green\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Jets by Brian Costello, a weekly Sports+ exclusive.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Beck is an interesting case because he is the opposite of Simpson. He started 43 games in college at Georgia and Miami. Some recent quarterbacks who had long college careers and have played well early in their NFL career include Brock Purdy with the 49ers and Tyler Shough with the Saints.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Beck] played in the system at Georgia where it was kind of restrictive. And his job was to play complementary football and manage it because they had such a strong defense,\u201d Carthon said. \u201cAnd then even though they had a strong defense in Miami, you know, he had the keys to the offense for Miami, so he\u2019s played in both style systems and understands how to operate in them, which would make him intriguing, like if I\u2019m the Jets, you know, at [No.] 33 or 44 whatever the case may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unless Mougey can somehow convince the Raiders to trade the No. 1 pick, the Jets look like they are staring at a year with a bridge quarterback, hoping that their franchise savior is there in the 2027 draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s amazing,\u201d former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason said. \u201cIt\u2019s a crapshoot. It really is, and the Jets are really in a real bad spot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Like their Brooklyn Dodgers ancestors, the Jets know all too well what it feels like to say \u201cWait Till Next Year.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is the second in a two-part series examining the Jets\u2019 options at quarterback. We examined veteran options…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":792788,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,15,15729,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-792787","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-jets","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-jets","10":"tag-new-york","11":"tag-new-york-jets","12":"tag-newyork","13":"tag-newyorkjets","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-nfl-draft","16":"tag-nfl-draft-2026","17":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116174409493763048","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792787","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=792787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/792787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/792788"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=792787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=792787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=792787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}