There is a lull in the NFL calendar before things kick into high gear: the NFL Owners’ Meetings are in Arizona next week, then comes April’s NFL Draft. This felt like a great time to open up a mailbag and answer some Jets questions — some from X, some submitted here at The Athletic:

If you could magically add one free agent to the contract they ended up signing, who would you add? — Michael S.

We’re starting with a fun exercise here. If we’re removing the “Jets tax” that comes in free agency these days and dropping a player (and his contract) into the Jets free-agency class, I narrowed my answer down to five candidates:

• Center Cade Mays (three years, $25 million to the Lions)
• Safety Nick Cross (two years, $13 million to Commanders) or safety Jaquan Brisker (one year, $5.5 million to Steelers)
• Guard Wyatt Teller (two years, $16 million to Texans)
• Running back Tyler Allgeier (two years, $12.25 million to Cardinals)

My thought process: Mays will still only be 27 this season and would probably be an upgrade (zero sacks allowed in the last two seasons) over Josh Myers (who could stick around as a backup). He played for Jets offensive coordinator Frank Reich in 2023, so he understands the system being installed.

The Jets definitely upgraded their safety room by adding Minkah Fitzpatrick and Dane Belton. Still, both Cross and Brisker — 24 and 26, respectively — went for much less in free agency than expected, and each would slot in nicely next to Fitzpatrick.

Teller is a solid, reliable veteran guard who has found more consistent success than free agent signee Dylan Parham. Plus, $8 million per season is perfectly reasonable for a quality starting guard.

The Jets don’t necessarily need Allgeier, but he’d complement Breece Hall nicely and is more of a sure thing at this point than Braelon Allen.

Who are the candidates for backup QB? I now realize Mougey did the best he could to get a solid QB, but Geno wound up being the most affordable. — Hans Z.

What have you heard — if anything — about the Jets’ interest in trading for Will Levis as backup QB? And what rookie do you think the Jets are most likely to take at QB in this year’s draft? — Brian K.

Got a lot of questions about the quarterback room and what general manager Darren Mougey plans on doing at QB2. The Jets are in no rush at that spot. They had some interest in Carson Wentz, but not an aggressive interest, if that makes sense.

The backup market has mostly dried up, other than a couple of options. Tyrod Taylor and Cooper Rush would be the most likely candidates at this juncture, but the Jets might hold off on making any decision until closer to the draft at this point.

That would include exploring the trade market for someone like Levis or Saints backup Spencer Rattler, though the Jets aren’t eager to trade a lot for a backup who isn’t part of their long-term plan. As of a week or two ago, there wasn’t any movement on a trade for Levis.

How realistic is it to think that Geno could have a top-5 Jets QB season? A lot of his numbers in Seattle would rank very highly on the all-time Jets single-season list. — @ImmortalLou3

Qualifying for a top-5 Jets QB season isn’t exactly the highest of bars to clear, but let’s look at the best candidates for that distinction. To make it more fun, I’ll limit it to one season per quarterback (aka the Joe Namath rule, since not many others have put together more than one high-quality quarterbacking season).

I’ll tab Namath’s 1967 campaign since that was the last time (and only time) a Jets quarterback has surpassed 4,000 yards. (Obviously, his 1968 season would be fair game considering the Jets, you know, won the Super Bowl.)

Let’s put Ryan Fitzpatrick’s 2015 season — 3,905 yards, a team-record 31 touchdowns, 15 interceptions and a 10-6 record — on the list.

Ken O’Brien’s 1985 season (fifth-best approximate value for a QB in team history) gets in: 3,888 yards, 25 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a Pro Bowl bid.

Vinny Testaverde’s 1998 season is a lock: 3,256 yards, 29 touchdowns, seven interceptions and a Pro Bowl.

If we’re going off Pro Football Reference’s “Approximate Value” metric, Al Dorow’s 1961 campaign would get in. Though I can’t in good conscience include someone who threw 30 interceptions and 19 touchdowns, even if he led the NFL in completions and made the Pro Bowl.

Instead, for the fifth spot, I went with Chad Pennington’s 2002 (3,120 yards, 22 touchdowns, six interceptions and 68.9 percent completion) and also considered Richard Todd (1981 or 1982) and Boomer Esiason (1993).

So, to come back to the question, does Smith have it in him to have one of the five best seasons in team history? His numbers for the Seahawks in 2022 (4,282 yards, 30 touchdowns, 11 interceptions) would certainly get him there. Passing for 4,000 yards (which he did twice in Seattle) might be enough to qualify him.

Do you think there’s a chance the Jets pick Kenyon Sadiq at 16? — Major H.

Who’s a wild-card pick at 16 no one is talking about right now that makes sense? — Nick

Everyone thinks the Jets will go WR at 16, but what position could be the dark horse at 16 if they don’t go WR? Do any of these players in the draft fit Glenn’s profile as a player — @bigdogz1318

The Jets’ decision at No. 2, right now, feels like it’ll be between Arvell Reese and David Bailey, with Reese as the favorite. The Jets contingent, including Mougey, Aaron Glenn and others, is on the Pro Day circuit with stops at both Ohio State and Texas Tech.

The choice at No. 16 is, obviously, more up in the air. The early expectation is that it will be a wide receiver, but that’s, of course, assuming the worthy options make it that far. It’s conceivable that Makai Lemon, Carnell Tate and Jordyn Tyson aren’t there when the Jets are picking. There has been growing buzz that Indiana’s Omar Cooper is a possibility.

And the idea of Sadiq at that spot is intriguing to me if the aforementioned players aren’t options. The Jets should be loading up on offensive weapons to cultivate the best possible supporting cast for Smith and/or their future starting quarterback.

Sadiq is a unique weapon and a freakish athlete who would complement Mason Taylor well while adding explosiveness out of the slot. The Athletic’s Dane Brugler wrote that he’s “able to outpace coverage and win at all three levels of the field.” Drafting Sadiq wouldn’t preclude the Jets from still adding a wide receiver in the second round.

If not a pass catcher at No. 16, I would lean toward a playmaker on defense (Oregon safety Dillon Thienman or an edge rusher) or offensive line, someone like Penn State guard Vega Ioane. I don’t see the Jets picking Ty Simpson at No. 16.

Which of the 2027 first-round picks will end up being the earliest: the Jets’ own pick, the one they received in the trade with the Colts or the Cowboys’ one? — Neil F.

The Jets are in a great position for 2027 because of the Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams trades. They have the look of a team that still will top out at five or six wins on the high end unless everything goes right.

The Colts feel like a team on the verge of disaster after a strange offseason, especially considering they’re going all in on Daniel Jones coming off a torn Achilles. The Cowboys haven’t made the playoffs since 2023.

If I’m predicting right now, the Jets have at least two top-10 picks, three top-15 picks, and, if the Colts fall apart like I think they might, potentially two of those falling in the top 5.

What is the feeling on Breece Hall? Is he just playing on the tag and bolting as soon as he can? Will he sign an extension and pout his way out? Is he buying into Glenn’s culture? I did not get good vibes from him this offseason. — Dave C.

Mougey’s general philosophy is to hold off on any extension talks until after the Jets get through free agency and the NFL Draft.

At that point, they will presumably re-engage with Hall and his representation on a new contract. There has been confidence on both sides that a deal will eventually get done, but I personally still think there’s a chance Hall winds up playing on the franchise tag. Call it 60-40 that he signs a deal versus playing on the tag.

The Jets have to decide if it’s worth paying a running back significant money on a long-term contract, and Hall needs to decide if he wants to be a Jet long-term.

What do you make of Wink Martindale’s recent podcast appearance, where he indicated Woody Johnson may have forced Aaron Glenn’s hand re: calling plays? Will this tiger ever change his stripes? Or can we expect more Glenn antics to distract from Johnson, for example, pushing to make NFLPA report cards NOT public? — Phillip M.

I’ll end on this note, a topic that dominated the Jets’ offseason largely because of the way Glenn operated after the season ended, in the way that he hired and fired his staff, and how it seemed from the outside, he changed plans on the fly.

First, he was bringing back Tanner Engstrand as offensive coordinator. Then Engstrand left. Then, he was interested in hiring someone like Martindale as defensive coordinator, then all of a sudden (or so it seemed) Glenn was going to call plays himself.

Many have connected dots to a meeting Glenn had with Johnson in Palm Beach, Fla., as the thing that spurred all of this change. Johnson’s history of interference is well-documented, but the Jets, at all levels of the organization, have insisted that Johnson had nothing to do with any of Glenn’s decision-making this offseason.

The only people who know what was said in that meeting were in the room, and one of them (Glenn) has said privately and publicly that while the timeline might have looked strange to the public, he was always going to take his time in making any decisions about his staff.

Johnson was hands-off last season, team sources insist, even as things plummeted to 3-14 depths of misery. He hasn’t earned the benefit of the doubt with this kind of stuff — and he won’t until the Jets start winning.