Because the NFL elicits a dramatic fluctuation of week-to-week emotions, we’re all feeling a bit better about the Jets at the minute thanks to Sunday’s where did that come from? 30-6 rout of the Texans, aren’t we?
Their five-game losing streak is no longer.
They still have three winnable games remaining among the four on their schedule, and that doesn’t include Sunday at Miami — where the Dolphins are smarting after blowing a 14-point fourth-quarter lead to the Titans on Monday night and might be vulnerable.
Even Zach Wilson, their maligned quarterback who’s spent the better part of his three seasons as an extraordinary disappointment, played like the No. 2 overall pick he was drafted to be, putting in his finest performance as a pro against Houston.
With all that said, though, the Jets still face significant decisions once this season is put to bed. At the heart of those decisions is what to do at quarterback beyond the year (maybe two?) that Aaron Rodgers plans to play in green.
The Jets absolutely, positively must draft a quarterback in April, with hopes they get this one right and finally find a franchise player to lead them forward the way neither Wilson nor Sam Darnold (their two most recent high QB picks) were able to do.
This, however, is where things will get fascinating, as the Jets move forward from a 13th consecutive season without a playoff berth. This is where we truly find out who’s running the team — general manager Joe Douglas, head coach Robert Saleh, team owner Woody Johnson.
Or Rodgers.
The answer to that question figures to crystalize at draft time.
Rodgers undoubtedly is going to want the Jets, who currently would have the No. 7 overall selection position, to pick a player who’ll help them win in 2024 — which would mean a receiver (Ohio State’s Marvin Harrison Jr. or LSU’s Malik Nabers?), a tackle (Notre Dame’s Joe Alt or Penn State’s Olu Fashanu?) or even a tight end (Georgia’s Brock Bowers?).
You may recall how exasperated Rodgers became when the Packers kept drafting for the future (quarterback Jordan Love, for example) instead of supplying him with players who would help him right away. That discord is one of the reasons he’s a Jet today.
Douglas’ charge as a GM is to look out for today as much as for tomorrow for the franchise. That will mean having a succession plan in place at quarterback post-Rodgers.
This means, depending on where the Jets are picking, if they have a conviction on North Carolina’s Drake Maye, Oregon’s Bo Nix, LSU’s Jayden Daniels or Washington’s Michael Penix Jr., they need to make the pick.
Choosing a young quarterback is the perfect scenario for the Jets in this situation, because that player can actually sit and learn from Rodgers for a year or two instead of being forced to start right away like Darnold and Wilson were — to both players’ developmental detriment.
If the Jets don’t pick a quarterback and Wilson, whom Rodgers has taken under his wing, remains the Jets quarterback answer behind him, then we’ll have confirmation that Rodgers is running the team.
As publicized and scrutinized as the acquisition of Rodgers became the instant they brought him to New Jersey, so, too, has the impact Rodgers has had as the team’s de facto general manager.
When the Jets, in their aggressive courting process, were hiring Nate Hackett (Rodgers’ close friend) as their offensive coordinator and signing receivers Allen Lazard and Randall Cobb (Rodgers’ friends and former targets in Green Bay), along with former Packers tackle Billy Turner, it made sense at the time.
Though cynically it looked like a gratuitous assembly of Mr. Rodgers’ friends and family, those moves made some sense not only for helping to lure Rodgers to the team, but making him as comfortable as he could be in a new environment for first time after 18 years in Green Bay.
As we’ve seen since, though, those Rodgers allies haven’t worked out so well this season.
Hackett’s offense produced just 10 touchdowns in the first 12 games before Sunday’s three-TD “outburst” against the Texans.
Cobb’s scoring catch Sunday was his first as a Jet and just his fourth reception with the team — having played in just eight of the 13 games, a healthy scratch in five of them.
Lazard, who was given $22 million in guaranteed money to be the No. 2 receiver opposite the dynamic Garrett Wilson, has just 20 catches and one TD in 12 games played, has had serious dropped-pass issues and was even benched for a game.
Turner has played in 10 games and started just one.
Rodgers, of course, played just four plays before rupturing his left Achilles in the season opener.
It’s all been a well-documented mess that leads us to these questions: Where do the Jets go from here, and who’s actually leading the way?