No one returns to the quarterback shop more often than the New York Jets. Since 2013, they have selected a QB in eight of 12 drafts.
And it looks like they’re about to do it again.
The Jets were bullish on Justin Fields when they signed the veteran to a two-year, $40 million deal last spring. But he has not been able to maintain his health or his title as starting quarterback through a nightmarish season.
New York didn’t exactly set Fields up for success, but 2025 was probably his last chance at convincing a team that he’s franchise QB material after failing to convince the Steelers last year as well.
Fields was benched for Tyrod Taylor, regained his job when Taylor got hurt, then got hurt himself. So, after a nine-game tenure during which he went 2-7 and averaged under 140 passing yards per game for the second straight year, it seems the Jets are ready to move on.
Fields is now on IR and unlikely to figure into New York’s future plans as anything other than a backup quarterback. At least, that’s what Nick Merriam from College Football HQ intimated with his first-round pick for the Jets (No. 3 overall) in his latest mock: standout Oregon QB Dante Moore.
“The only thing a team that has struggled to identify quarterback talent can do is keep throwing darts at the board,” suggested Merriam. “The Jets have long sought a solution at the position, and Moore is as promising a talent as they’ve seen.”
And if anything, “they have long sought a solution” is putting it mildly. Moore looks like a great prospect with a strong arm and quick processing speed despite some athletic limitations. But there’s no guarantees when we’re talking QBs and Jets.
Jets have failed in every QB search since Joe Namath
The Justin Fields experiment didn’t work and the Aaron Rodgers experiment was also a failure. Zach Wilson, Sam Darnold, Christian Hackenberg (who never even played a snap), and Geno Smith, their last four first- or second-round QBs going back to 2013, went a combined 37-64 for Gang Green during their tenures.
It also hurts that a couple of those—Darnold and Smith—have been able to rejuvenate their careers elsewhere after departing the festering facility of the Jets.
The Jets have had 17 starting QBs since the 2016 season, and they have historically not had good QB play going back to the days of Hall of Famer Broadway Joe Namath in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Namath’s 4,007-yard effort in 14 games back in 1967 remains the only 4,000-yard season in franchise history.
They have also had just five QBs throw for 3,500+ yards since 1986 and in 65 years they have had just 11 Pro Bowl QBs. About half of those (5) belong to Namath.
Al Dorow earned the nod in the franchise’s first year of existence in 1960, Ken O’Brien earned two in 1984 and 1991, Boomer Esiason was named to the Pro Bowl in 1993.
Since then, only two over-the-hill guys—Vinny Testaverde in 1998 and Brett Favre in 2008—have been named to the Pro Bowl as a Jets QB since.
They will hope that Moore or whoever they choose can break the Gang Green QB Curse.