Stop me if you heard this one, but the Aaron Rodgers era in New York did not go as planned. The Jets currently sit at a paltry 3-10 record with four games to go and then the team overhaul can begin.
The Jets will be hiring a new general manager and a new head coach just as soon as they are able to start conducting interviews after the last game of the regular season and they will need to be aggressive. Once the GM and coach are set, assuming Woody Johnson doesn’t scare off all the potential candidates, they can get to work together on the roster.
While I believe that the Jets have a lot of good, young talent worth holding on to, they will need to continue to build out their roster as there will likely be significant roster overhaul as contracts expire, and the new regime looks to put their mark on the team. The Jets will look to once again build through the NFL Draft no matter who the GM and head coach is.
Currently, the Jets hold the number seven overall pick with four games left to go. In AtoZ Sports latest mock draft by AJ Schulte, the Jets take a weapon on the outside for the new quarterback in Missouri wide receiver Luther Burden III:
Aaron Rodgers is all but gone in the new year and the Jets can save $35 million in cap space by cutting his buddies Davante Adams and Allen Lazard. That would leave the team stuck with Garrett Wilson and Xavier Gipson as their top two options, with little behind them. No quarterback is going to succeed in those conditions. Add a real playmaker to this offense in Luther Burden III.
I like that Schulte didn’t have the Jets taking the third best QB off the board in a panic pick. The Jets better really like QB if they are going to take him top-10 because the franchise has missed far too often on the position.
Taking a wide receiver does make a lot of sense especially considering Adams and Lazard are both likely on new teams in 2025. They were brought in because of their connections to Aaron Rodgers, but Rodgers will also likely be donning a new uniform in 2025 as the Jets will try and distance themselves from the failure of his tenure. That would just leaves Garrett Wilson, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they start to worry about life after him as well. So, a young playmaking wide receiver does make sense there.
The Missouri star is a big-play threat down the field and a creator with the ball in his hands, which would give whoever the new offensive coordinator is a versatile chess piece that he can deploy from anywhere in the formation.
At some point in the draft, preferably in the first three rounds, the Jets will need some sort of quarterback of the future. I wouldn’t be surprised if they don’t take one in the top 10 considering the lack of talent at the position this season.
I honestly wouldn’t mind if the Jets took Michigan defensive lineman Mason Graham there either. Graham has no holes in his game, and the Jets interior defensive line consists of Quinnen Williams and a bunch of dudes. Owning the middle of the defense could go a long way to being competitive in 2025.
There is a long time to go between now and April’s NFL Draft, but what else do Jets fans have to do but dream of next season.
