{"id":869454,"date":"2026-04-18T21:54:39","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:54:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869454\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T21:54:39","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T21:54:39","slug":"jets-met-extensively-with-ndsu-quarterback-cole-payton-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/869454\/","title":{"rendered":"Jets met ‘extensively’ with NDSU quarterback Cole Payton (Report)"},"content":{"rendered":"

With the NFL draft<\/a> less than one week away, teams are wrapping up their final meetings, interviews, and visits with prospects.<\/p>\n

According to KPRC2\u2019s Aaron Wilson, the New York Jets were among the few teams to meet \u201cextensively\u201d with North Dakota State quarterback Cole Payton.<\/p>\n

During the 2025 season, Payton led North Dakota State to a 12-1 record while putting up elite numbers. He completed 71.9% of his passing attempts, which was the second-best mark in the FCS and the third-highest in NDSU history. The QB also set NDSU single-season records for yards per pass attempt (12.1) and total yards per game (268.9).<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old is also a threat on the ground, logging 894 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns last season, flashing his dual-threat ability.<\/p>\n

Payton thrives when pushing the ball downfield, completing 35 of his 56 deep pass attempts (62.5%) for 1,247 yards and eight touchdowns against one interception.<\/p>\n

Context is everything, however. That level of production came against FCS competition, and it was his only season as a full-time starter. He enters the NFL on the older side for a draft prospect, as he will turn 24 in October.<\/p>\n

Ranked No. 124 on Mock Draft Database\u2019s consensus big board<\/a>, Payton could be a late-round quarterback target <\/a>for the Jets. <\/p>\n

Entering the draft, Gang Green does not have a serviceable QB2 rostered, making it increasingly likely that the team will take a dart throw on someone like Payton in the later rounds.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, it will boil down to the team\u2019s preferences in a young QB this year and how early they are willing to invest in the position<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the NFL draft less than one week away, teams are wrapping up their final meetings, interviews, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":869455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2051],"tags":[7,3228,226,1917,255,2321,2097,6,15,3231,3234],"class_list":{"0":"post-869454","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-free-content","10":"tag-jets","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-jets","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkjets","15":"tag-nfl","16":"tag-nfl-draft","17":"tag-ny-jets-news","18":"tag-standard"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116427940055198813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869454","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=869454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/869455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}