Notre Dame quarterback CJ Carr is starting to look like the kind of prospect Jets fans can talk themselves into. The buzz online is real. The bigger question is whether the current setup in New York could actually bring along a quarterback like him.
If Carr ends up in the Jets’ orbit, the development job would fall to offensive coordinator Frank Reich. And Reich’s recent history does not exactly scream quarterback incubator.
In 2023, he was running the Carolina Panthers when they used the No. 1 draft pick on Bryce Young. Young got benched for Andy Dalton, Reich was gone by Week 12, and Carolina stumbled to a 2-15 finish.
Three years later, Young is leading the NFL in passing and pushing himself into the MVP conversation. That turnaround says the issue in Carolina was bigger than the quarterback.
That’s the heart of the concern with a “project” passer in New York: the Jets have not shown they can successfully develop one. So the question becomes less about finding the best quarterback available and more about finding the right quarterback for the Jets.
Carr has plenty going for him. He’s won at a high level, produced strong numbers, and checks the look test for what teams want at the position. He’s a precision passer with strong pocket awareness and elite touch, and his ability to layer throws at every level stands out.
He also clearly understands the game. Notre Dame asks him to handle a lot of pre-snap work and make quick decisions, and he does it well.
But there’s a catch. A lot of what he does well helps cover for what he doesn’t do as well. He has below-average arm strength, isn’t a great athlete, and hasn’t shown he can consistently create when the play breaks down.
Carr has been in a situation that suits him. A strong offensive line, a reliable run game, capable receivers and a good scheme have all helped him fit in perfectly with the Irish. The concern is whether that same style travels to a different environment.
And then there’s the Notre Dame context. The Irish don’t face the kind of weekly pressure an NFL quarterback feels, and that matters when you’re trying to project a college passer into the Jets’ world.
Every game in the NFL is a big one. For the Jets, nearly every game feels like a must-win.
That reality has to be part of the evaluation.
One throw from Carr shows why people are so interested in him:
A 28-yard pass from @13Cjcarr to @Jordan6Faison gets us on the board! #GoIrish ☘️
📺: ESPN pic.twitter.com/n5w4ywajdD
- Notre Dame Football (@NDFootball) October 3, 2026
If that doesn’t jump off the screen, then the evaluation is probably going in the wrong direction.
The fit conversation gets more interesting when you compare Carr’s profile to where the Jets struggled in 2025. New York ranked second worst in the NFL in both sacks allowed and team passer rating. Carr, meanwhile, ranked 30th in college football in pressure-to-sack rate and fifth in passer rating.
He also grades out well in avoiding bad plays, which is something the Jets have had trouble with.
The simplest way to frame it is this: where the Jets were weakest, Carr was one of the better college quarterbacks. That part is easy enough to see.
Still, there’s another important wrinkle. Carr has benefited from a dependable run game, and that matters. In his fifteen college wins, Notre Dame failed to hit 100 rushing yards only once, and that was one of his two losses.
The Jets, by contrast, fell short of 100 rushing yards in thirteen of twenty-one games during that same span. In plain terms, there’s no evidence Carr can be just as effective without the kind of ground support the Jets have not shown they can provide.
Maybe the biggest issue is temperament. Carr might be the most mature, composed and intelligent quarterback in this class, and that level-headed feel is part of what makes him appealing.
But New York has not always embraced that kind of personality. Sam Darnold, Zach Wilson and Justin Fields all carried a quieter, lower-energy presence, and none of them worked out in the Big Apple.
Even now, reports about Glenn and whether his attitude is creating a problem have surfaced. The argument can also be made that the Jets have historically gotten more out of fiery leaders.
Ryan Fitzpatrick powered an electric Jets offense to 10 wins in 2015, and while that team just missed the playoffs, the spark he brought clearly connected. Before that, Rex Ryan’s edge was a defining part of the franchise’s identity in back-to-back AFC Championship seasons and on Hard Knocks. And 40 years before that, Broadway Joe Namath was guaranteeing Super Bowls and wearing mink coats.
That leads to the broader point: quarterback fit is not just about arm talent or mechanics. It’s about whether the player’s style and personality match the place he’s walking into.
Brett Favre fit Wisconsin’s blue-collar toughness. Tom Brady matched Boston’s grit and stubbornness. Joe Montana embodied the easygoing cool of the Bay Area.
New York is different. It’s fast, impatient and aggressive. To survive there, a quarterback needs to handle the chaos and bring enough force to seize control of it.
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