I did not expect to be writing this article so soon into the season, but here we are. The New York Jets season has been over for quite some time, and at 4-10, the Jets are currently slotted to pick eighth in the 2025 NFL draft.
If you had told me this team would draft in the top 10 back in July or August, I would have thought you were crazy.
But alas, that is the reality of the situation. However, a silver lining of that reality is that we can start speculating about where New York goes from here.
A perfect place to start is the quarterback position. It is the foundational piece for a franchise and also a position the Jets have not gotten right for over a decade.
The 2025 free agency and draft classes do not present any surefire options, but there are plenty of intriguing paths to take.
What are some of them? Well, I am so glad you asked. Today, we will project and preview some of the quarterback options the New York Jets have for the upcoming 2025 season.
But this is not your standard preview. We will use memes, anime, and pop culture references to look at these options. Will you, the ever-valuable reader, agree with these? Maybe not. But feel free to leave your own comparisons in the comments below.
Run it back with Aaron Rodgers: Trusting Light Yagami from ‘Death Note’
Out of all of the potential 2025 quarterback options, this might be the most controversial one for the fanbase.
Aaron Rodgers entered the 2024 season after an offseason full of excitement and hope. Seen as the final piece toward vaulting the Jets into contention, the quarterback was hailed as the “savior” for a franchise struggling to compete against the NFL world.
Rodgers had the talent to succeed and the pedigree of one of the best quarterbacks of all time. What could possibly go wrong?
Well, just about everything.
Instead of assuming the savior role, Rodgers contributed to many of the Jets’ losses this season. His greatest superpowers disappeared, while his greatest flaws became more magnified.
It has ultimately made the Jets’ decision for this offseason difficult: Do they trust the aging superstar or part ways to chart a new path for the organization? This question becomes even more difficult after another quality performance down south, this time in a 32-25 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It is very hard to find a perfect comparison for this situation. However, I think Light Yagami from “Death Note” offers some interesting parallels.
Like Rodgers, Yagami is a talented and smart individual. He is hailed as one of the top students—if not the top student in his class. When he finds the Death Note, Light starts off with great intentions. He goes after evil people and actually does some good in the world.
However, as the story unfolds, Light starts to fall into evil.
Instead of remaining benevolent, he starts going after all types of people, regardless of whether they are good or evil. Light’s talents regress and he becomes erratic, eventually leading to his downfall.
Like Light, Rodgers was one of the best talents in the league at one point in his career. Because of his talent and play on the field, he was worth trusting.
But now, Rodgers is not the same. Like Light toward the end of the story, Rodgers has become erratic on the field while retaining his same bravado and personality.
The Jets’ major decision is just like the one people in Death Note had to grapple with. Do they trust the supremely talented personality in Rodgers/Yagami, who has lost a step, or do they chart a new path away from all the baggage?
How New York decides on this outcome will likely dictate the next few seasons of this organization’s future.
Drafting Cam Ward: ‘The Arrested Development’ “maybe it will work for us” meme
Just keep swinging the bat, and you’ll hit a home run at some point. Right?
This scenario could be filled with any young or rookie quarterback of your choosing, but for the sake of this exercise, we will use Miami’s Cam Ward.
Ward is, by all intents and purposes, one of the most electric quarterbacks in all of college football.
Finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting this season, the Miami quarterback threw for 4,123 yards and 36 touchdowns.
While his game also has some recklessness, Ward is a big play machine. He possesses tremendous pocket presence, can evade players with ease, and can create outside of the play’s structure.
Even without the strongest arm, Ward can deliver the ball to all different areas of the field.
The selection of another quarterback directly relates to the famous “maybe it will work for us” meme. Taking its cue from the FOX hit “Arrested Development,” it perfectly encapsulates the status of the Jets finding a reliable quarterback in the draft.
The use of the meme here is obviously tongue-in-cheek regarding the Jets’ quarterback plight. It falls on the organization to build the proper infrastructure for a young quarterback and for that quarterback to actually produce when called upon.
However, the everlong search for a franchise quarterback is very similar to this discussion. It has not worked for these other regimes, and they have “deluded” themselves into thinking it will.
But maybe, as the meme implies for the characters, this regime will get the quarterback position right.
Rolling with Tyrod Taylor and Jalen Milroe: Jedi Master and Jedi Padawan
Of all the options, outside of the long-shot last one, this is one of my personal favorites.
For starters, I think Tyrod Taylor is a very serviceable quarterback at the NFL level. Even at an older age, he has some good mobility to maneuver around the pocket and even escape at times.
More importantly, though, Taylor has a big arm to challenge defenses down the field. He is not afraid to take shots to his best wideouts and make throws all over the field.
As far as bridge quarterbacks go, the Jets could do far worse than Taylor. If he can stay healthy, he could help establish a vertical passing game that New York has struggled to find in recent years.
With his base talent level, he would also help the Jets compete in a reasonable number of games.
There are plenty of options to pair with Taylor in this situation. And if the Jets want to go down a fun route, Jalen Milroe is a great choice.
In terms of raw skill, Milroe has some of the most significant upsides of any quarterback in the 2025 draft class. He finished with 2,652 yards and 15 touchdowns, having an ADOT of 10.2 and 17 big-time throws.
On the ground, Milroe is a force; he has 719 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns. Moreover, he forced 28 missed tackles, produced 29 rushes over 10 yards, and showcased a breakaway percentage of 38.3%
Milroe could be seen as a ball of clay. He is nowhere near a finished product, having plenty of flaws as a quarterback, but with the right coaching and development, he could truly become a long-term quarterback for a franchise.
If Tyrod and Milroe are the Jets’ pairing, I would compare it to a Jedi Master and Jedi Padawan relationship. While not similar in every way, Milroe shares some key similarities to Taylor. Both players have great escape ability, powerful throwing arms, and an aggressive playing style.
Quarterback development is not linear or straightforward, nor is the development of a Jedi Knight. Both situations require the proper guidance, teaching, patience, and skill; if any of these aspects are lacking, the development is usually tricky.
The Jets have not selected a player with the traits of Milroe in a long, long time. If they opt to go that route, having Tyrod as his “Jedi Master” figure could be paramount in his finding success.
Choosing Geno Smith: Asuma Sarutobi (Naruto)
While this option is predicated on several factors, it would be one of the more solid ones for New York this offseason.
First, the Seattle Seahawks would have to cut Geno Smith. Depending on how they feel about the quarterback class and other available options, that is not nearly a guarantee.
Secondly, Smith would have to want to come back to New York. Considering his recent post after Seattle’s victory over New York, that would also be far from a guarantee.
But if the stars align, Smith would be just about as good of a “veteran” option as possible for the Jets. He is an effective, if not above-average, passer to all areas of the field. Smith is at his best throwing the ball deep down the field; in the 2024 season, he had a 94.3 PFF passing grade and six touchdowns when throwing the ball 20 yards or more.
The quarterback has thrown for no less than 3,000 yards in any of his seasons starting for the Seahawks and has at least 20 big-time throws in each of those seasons.
As a player with the skill to make upper-tier plays but not the consistent ceiling of the best quarterbacks in the league, Smith is very similar to the “Naruto” character Asuma Sarutobi.
Sarutobi was a high-level Jonin who was a former member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja for the Land of Fire. For the uninitiated, that basically means that Asuma meant business.
He could hold his own against the best of opponents, was a valuable teacher to his students, and helped his village stay safe and successful. As a result, Asuma was a valued and feared ninja, despite not being the most powerful one in his village.
Smith, while not having the “unlimited potential” of Josh Allen, Lamar Jackson, or Patrick Mahomes, is good enough to get the job done. He has the skill to bring his team to success and help them be consistent on the football field, despite the mistakes he sometimes makes.
For a franchise starving for any sort of quarterback success, an “Asuma Sarutobi” type might be exactly what New York needs in 2025.
Choosing Jameis Winston: Kinji Hakari (JJK)
Ah, chaos. Who doesn’t like chaos?
To put it simply, the Jets’ hypothetical choice of Jameis Winston as their quarterback would mean they are in for a roller coaster ride.
Winston, with his aggressive playing style, has the highest of highs. He fearlessly launches the ball down the field to his weapons and racks up a large amount of passing yards. No matter what the situation is or what the coverage is, Winston is going to let that thing rip.
However, that is also the problem. Winston always throws the ball down the field, meaning that turnovers are all but guaranteed. His playing style will win teams some games, but he will also lose plenty of them.
For a comparison, Winston is Kinji Hakari from “Jujutsu Kaisen” (warning: Manga spoilers ahead).
Hakari is reckless and one of the most powerful characters in the entire universe of JJK. However, where the comparison truly shines is in his “Domain Expansion.”
Hakari’s domain expansion is called “Idle Death Gamble.” According to Fandom.com, Idle Death Gamble is “A pachinko-themed domain expansion that creates an environment resembling a train station that hosts a game of chance. Kinji’s primary goal is to line up three of the same numbers to hit a jackpot with only a 1/239 chance of doing so.”
Hakari lives for the thrill, and his most powerful technique relies upon the inherent recklessness of his character. Winston, based on his style of play, lives for the thrill of challenging defenses whenever possible.
If the Jets opt to sign Winston, they will have to step into Winston’s domain and get ready for their own version of the “Idle Death Gamble.”
Anthony Richardson: Naruto Uzumaki (Naruto)
It’s a long shot, of course, but this is my favorite wild-card option for the New York Jets this offseason.
Anthony Richardson is a fun and unique quarterback. He has a rocket of an arm, which he uses to hit any throw imaginable on the football field. He is also a force of a runner, being able to make any form of defender bounce off him or miss.
Richardson has his flaws, with accuracy and repeatability in his mechanics being two of the major ones. But at such a young age and with limited experience, the quarterback has the potential to be one of the best in the league for a long time.
Richardson’s outlook is very similar to how Naruto Uzumaki was portrayed early in his story. The young ninja, who had the Nine-Tailed Fox placed into him at birth, had all the potential in the world. However, he would not capitalize on it by himself. He needed the right teachers, guidance, and situations around him to become his best.
Naruto ended up being the most powerful character in the story and achieved his goals. It was only through the help of his teachers and being in the right situation that he reached that level.
How does this relate to Richardson? Well, he has the potential and talent to be a top-five quarterback, if not higher. He has all the tools to be great, but he just needs the right situation and people around him to achieve it.
Whether it is Richardson, Trevor Lawrence, or some other Hail Mary dart throw, the story is the same for the Jets in this situation. If they can build the right culture and situation for their team, they can develop whoever their next chosen “Naruto” is into a success.
There will be plenty of other options to discuss going forward, but this was a fun way to examine some of the early possibilities, whether they are likely or not.
And who knows, maybe there will be another version of this article for a different position coming soon. Until next time.
