The New York Jets will be on their eighth starting quarterback since 2020 with the Aaron Rodgers era done after two tumultuous years.
New Jets head coach Aaron Glenn and general manager Darren Mougey informed Rodgers that they were going in a different direction as the four-time NFL MVP will need to find a new home if he wants to continue playing in 2025.
The Jets traded for Rodgers to much fanfare ahead of the 2023 season, believing he was the final piece to their Super Bowl aspirations. However, it instantly turned into a nightmare. Four plays into his first game with the Jets, Rodgers tore his Achilles tendon on Monday Night Football and missed the rest of the season.
He returned in 2024, with the same hopes, but those were quickly dashed. Owner Woody Johnson fired head coach Robert Saleh after a Week 5 loss, did the same with general manager Joe Douglas just a few weeks later, and reportedly wanted Rodgers benched at one point during the season. The Jets crashed and finished 5-12 on the season.
The Jets own the seventh overall pick and need to fill many holes, including quarterback. There’s a good chance Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders won’t be there when the Jets select, so they might not find their franchise quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft.
That’s why one NFL insider believes the Jets will turn to a former first-round pick to be under center.
Related: New York Jets players rank Woody Johnson as the NFL’s worst owner
NFL insider: New York Jets will bring back Sam Darnold
ESPN’s Aaron Schatz predicts the Jets will end up signing quarterback Sam Darnold, whom the Jets selected third overall in the 2018 draft. It would be quite the homecoming as Darnold only lasted three seasons with the Jets and was considered a bust.
During his time in New York, Darnold went 13-25, threw 45 touchdowns to 39 interceptions, and was sacked 98 times. After bouncing around the league, he resurrected his career in 2024 with the Minnesota Vikings, leading them to the playoffs while throwing for 4,319 yards and 35 touchdowns, making his first Pro Bowl.
“The idea seems ridiculous. Darnold going back to the Jets — the organization that nearly destroyed his career? But the difficulty with placing Darnold on a new team is that you want to match him with a franchise where the offensive coordinator will run an offense similar to what Kevin O’Connell had for him in Minnesota. That’s what allowed Darnold to finally flourish, overcome his early-career bust status and rank 14th with a 60.4 QBR in 2024,” notes Schatz.
Schatz adds that new Jets offensive coordinator Tanner Engstrand, who was part of the Detroit Lions staff last season with Glenn, would be a good fit with Darnold due to his familiarity with under center play-action calls.
“Although he doesn’t come from the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan tree, Jets coordinator Tanner Engstrand seems like a good match because of the way the Lions used under-center play-action when Engstrand was working under Ben Johnson. The Vikings had the quarterback under center 34% of the time this past season, while the Lions were at 36%. Perhaps a new coaching staff could guide Darnold and the Jets to the playoffs — just not quite in the way fans expected when the Jets took him third overall in 2018.”
Darnold could command upwards of $40 million a year with how quarterback salaries have skyrocketed, so it remains to be seen if the Jets would be willing to shell out that kind of money.
This will be the first big decision Glenn and Mougey make, and whichever quarterback they sign will define their tenure.
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