What does it say about this Jets season that a 1-3 start feels like progress? Aaron Glenn’s first team limped to 3-14. This one won 23-10 in Nashville, then lost a 20-17 overtime thriller to Green Bay before falling 31-24 in Detroit. In Chicago, the Bears held the ball for nearly 43 minutes, the Jets went 0 for 7 on third down, and a 23-12 defeat was the wake-up call nobody wanted.
Geno Smith remains the bridge. Acquired from Las Vegas after leading the league in interceptions in 2025, the 35-year-old completed 75.5 per cent for 783 yards, four touchdowns, and no picks through three games, including 31 of 37 for 321 yards and three scores at Ford Field. Chicago held him to 8 of 15 for 119 yards and a late touchdown, and a run game averaging 3.3 yards a carry hasn’t helped. Three of the next four are at home: Cleveland, then Miami and Las Vegas after a trip to New England, with each of the MetLife showdowns providing genuine shots at victory.
But even though there are positives, online betting sites still consider the Green Machine a long shot to end the longest playoff drought in the NFL in 2026. Outlets such as the popular https://thunderpick.io/sports/american-football list the Jets as a +650 shot to reach the postseason, the fourth-longest odds of anybody behind the Cardinals, Titans, and Dolphins.
Still, last April’s haul offers hope, led by David Bailey, the No. 2 pick and the highest-drafted defender in franchise history. But the real war chest is 2027: their own first plus Indianapolis’s and Dallas’s, the only multiple first-round stake in the league. So, will one of those first-rounders yield the franchise quarterback that the Jets have long yearned for, and if so, who will that man be? Here are the current contenders.
Few prospects arrive with more noise. After a 2023 learning year and spot starts for Quinn Ewers in 2024, Arch Manning’s first full season as the starter opened with a loss at Ohio State 12 months ago and ended with 26 passing touchdowns, 10 more on the ground, and a Citrus Bowl win over Michigan. This season, however, the Longhorns sensation has finally started to live up to the most famous surname in the football world.
On September 12, down 23-3 to number one-ranked Ohio State, Texas scored the final 21 points to win 24-23, the largest fourth-quarter rally ever against an AP No. 1. The numbers have been somewhat ordinary since: 862 yards and seven touchdowns for a 4-0, No. 1 side. Still, the bookies make Manning and the Longhorns the favorites to win a first national championship in 22 years this term.
SI’s Gilberto Manzano mocked Manning second overall to the Jets on September 23 before Athlon’s Luke Easterling dropped him all the way down to 15th on October 1. The arm and mobility are real, but so is the inconsistency. Still, with three picks in the first 12, a potential slide down the board could still end up with Manning wearing green in a year’s time.
If the Jets have a type, it might be this one. After a redshirt 2024, Carr threw for 2,741 yards, 24 touchdowns, and six interceptions in 2025, won ten straight, and still watched the Playoff from home. The streak is now 15.
Notre Dame is 5-0 in 2026, third in the country, and the preseason Heisman favorite threw four touchdowns and ran for another in a rain-soaked 37-26 win at North Carolina. ESPN’s Jordan Reid mocked him third overall to the Jets on August 26; SI had him 10th, Athlon 31st. The catch: as a redshirt sophomore, he can go back to school, bypassing the 2027 draft for at least another year.
A pocket passer who wins in rhythm, he’s the cleanest fit, whether at the Jets’ own pick or via a package of the extra firsts. He has the strongest chance of any QB to end up at MetLife next year.
Never a varsity starter in high school. A walk-on at North Texas, Drew Mestemaker led the nation with 4,379 passing yards and threw 34 touchdowns in 2025, then followed Eric Morris to Stillwater.
The 2026 opener was ugly, a 24-10 loss at Tulsa. Then came the 39-31 upset of sixth-ranked Oregon and a 389-yard, three-touchdown night in a 41-24 win at West Virginia that ended an 18-game Big 12 losing streak. Oklahoma State is 3-1 and 18th in the AP poll, with UCF next.
SI placed him 30th on September 23 while noting there’s a strong chance he returns to college; he’s a redshirt sophomore too. The anticipation and timing translate. One elite season against lesser opposition, plus nine interceptions in 2025, doesn’t yet.
Is there a more accurate passer in the country? After a year at Tulane, Darian Mensah threw for 3,973 yards and 34 touchdowns at Duke in 2025 and won the ACC title, then reached Miami once Duke agreed to end a legal fight over his departure. Through five games, he has completed 84.2 per cent of his passes for 1,438 yards, 15 touchdowns, and no interceptions, and Saturday’s 41-13 win at Clemson, 227 yards plus a 34-yard scoring run, left the 5-0 Hurricanes alone atop the ACC.
The mock range is wide: fourth in SI’s September 23 edition, fifth to the Dolphins in Athlon’s October 1 version, fifth to the Jets in Pro Football Network’s early-October mock. A post-Week 4 SI mock noted scouts’ arm-strength questions, which could lead the Jets war room to head in a different direction.
From Division II to the top ten. Trinidad Chambliss won a national title at Ferris State in 2024, then threw for an SEC-best 3,937 yards, 22 touchdowns, and three interceptions at Ole Miss in 2025, adding 527 rushing yards and eight scores before a playoff semifinal loss to Miami. This term, the Rebels have beaten Louisville 41-38 and Lane Kiffin’s LSU 32-24, before a 52-28 defeat at Florida dropped them to 3-1.
Listed at 6ft and 210lb, he’s undersized and older than his peers, yet Easterling mocked him sixth to the Jets with the Dallas pick, and Manzano argued he now belongs in the same conversation as Carr and Manning. A dual-threat creator ready to start now, with a shorter runway. That could be appealing.