The Jets’ future may have been altered at the NFL trading deadline without them even making a move.
The Patriots shipping quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo to the 49ers has a trickle-down effect for the Jets. Beyond knowing they will now continue to face Tom Brady for the foreseeable future, this move will alter the quarterback landscape this offseason when the Jets will be in the market … again.
Here are a few quick thoughts on how this affects the Jets:
1. Kirk Cousins now becomes a realistic target for the Jets. The 29-year-old was expected to go to the 49ers and be reunited with coach Kyle Shanahan, whom he worked with at the Redskins. Instead, the 49ers picked up Garoppolo. The questions now will be: Will the Jets want to pay Cousins the big-money contract he is going to be looking for? And are the Redskins going to let him hit free agency?
The Jets will have to ask themselves, do they think they will be better off with Cousins for the next five to seven years or one of the quarterbacks in the draft?
Which leads us to …
2. The Jets now have one fewer team to compete with for a quarterback in the draft. The 49ers may have just signed Cousins or they may have opted to draft a quarterback. Now, they have removed themselves from both possibilities. If the 49ers land one of the top three draft picks, which looks likely, they also may be a trade partner for the Jets if they want to move up and take a quarterback.
3. One thing that this trade says, though, is the 49ers are not high on the quarterbacks at the top of this draft. Why deal away an asset like a second-round pick if you loved these college quarterbacks? Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen and Josh Allen have failed to live up to the preseason hype. Teams may still fall in love with them in the draft process and excuse their seasons for reasons like the talent around them or trying to do too much. But Shanahan knows quarterbacks, and he clearly felt Garoppolo was a better option than the college options. Those college quarterbacks will be much cheaper than Garoppolo, who will surely get a big-money extension from the 49ers. That should give the Jets or any team looking at these quarterbacks pause when it comes to the draft.