By all accounts, second-year Jets general manager Darren Mougey got it right with his second Jets draft. But no jackpot was won in Pittsburgh last week. That outcome, AKA drafting a star QB, is next year’s quest.
Mougey addressed the team’s needs by drafting first-rounders Texas Tech pass rusher David Bailey and Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq, followed by acquiring another first-round pick and drafting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s favorite target, Omar Cooper. Indiana cornerback D’Angelo Ponds was drafted in the second round. Then, fourth-rounders Darrell Jackson Jr. (Florida State) and Cade Klubnik (Clemson), along with sixth-rounder Anex Cooper (Miami) and seventh-rounder VJ Payne (K-State), completed Mougey’s weekend of hard work.
How well did Mougey and staff do? CBS analyst Ryan Wilson awarded them an A+ grade, writing that “the Jets crushed it.”
Besides being NFL-quality players, those players share something else in common: almost all of them played on nationally competitive teams. That’s important for the Jets, a franchise that can benefit from having players who know how to win. It has been 15 years since the Jets made the playoffs, the longest active playoff drought in major North American professional sports, now that the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres ended their negative streak at 14. Moreover, the Jets haven’t had a winning season since 2015.
The Jets need this cycle to end, and while there are clear reasons to be excited about the outcomes of the ’26 Draft, Mougey has to figure out how to secure a long-term solution at quarterback. We knew the solution was most unlikely going into last week’s draft, so pulling the genie out of the bottle will have to wait until next year’s draft.
The Jets boast three first-round picks next year in what should be a quarterback-heavy draft headlined by Arch Manning (Texas), Dante Moore (Oregon), Trinidad Chambliss (Ole’ Miss), Sam Leavitt (LSU), Jayden Malava (USC), C.J. Carr (Notre Dame), LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), and John Mateer (Oklahoma).
The stakes are high: Mougey and his staff must get it right. They will not be getting another shot. They have to make sure they pick a quarterback who has the right head and presence to play the position in New York.
It won’t be easy. Otherwise, this franchise would be in a very different place. Chad Pennington was the last homegrown Jets quarterback to do something, but shoulder injuries did him in, ending his career early. The Jets thought Mark Sanchez, Sam Darnold, and others were the answer, but they weren’t, each for different reasons.
Mougey knows what he signed up for when he took the job. Get the quarterback right. Nothing else comes close. So, while Jets’ fans celebrated last week, the red letter date of major concern is April 22, 2027, the first day of the NFL Draft 2027, which will be held in Washington, DC.
There’s no way around that conclusion.
