The New York Jets’ current season is heading in the wrong direction, but the way the 2027 NFL Draft is shaping up could give them a real shot to change the conversation fast.
At 1-3 and coming off three straight losses, New York is already staring at a familiar problem. The Jets haven’t reached the playoffs since the 2010 season, and that drought looks likely to keep rolling.
The consolation, at least on paper, is draft position. With a chance to land a top-five pick, the Jets could put themselves in range for a franchise quarterback.
That’s exactly the path Todd McShay laid out in his latest 2027 NFL mock draft for Ringer. McShay had the Jets taking Notre Dame quarterback C.J. Carr with the No. 3 overall pick, making him the second quarterback off the board behind Texas star Arch Manning.
Carr has put together a strong season for Notre Dame, throwing for 1,197 yards with 13 touchdowns and one interception. He’s helped push the Fighting Irish back into the national picture, and they now look like a legitimate title contender under his watch.
The production hasn’t come out of nowhere, either. Last season, Carr passed for 2741 yards with 24 touchdowns and six interceptions, and he appears on track for another productive year as Notre Dame chases a spot in the College Football Playoff.
For the Jets, that kind of profile would bring something they clearly don’t have right now: a long-term answer at quarterback. Geno Smith is currently holding down the starting job, but the source of the need is obvious - New York needs a player it can build around for the future.
If the Jets do end up in position to take Carr, the fit could be ideal. Even if he doesn’t start right away, he would give the franchise stability at the most important position, while the team uses its other first-round picks to strengthen the rest of the roster. In a draft class that looks loaded at quarterback, Carr could wind up being the kind of swing that changes the direction of the team.
In Other News...
Geno Smith Faces A Jets Problem That Could Decide Sunday
The Browns have spent the early part of the season leaning heavily on man coverage, and that sets up an interesting test for Geno Smith and the Jets on Sunday. Cleveland has played more man than any defense in the league through four games, which means Smith will likely spend plenty of the afternoon dealing with tight coverage and the kind of one-on-one matchups that can either open things up or stall an offense in a hurry.
Smith has handled man looks well enough to keep the Jets in games, ranking near the top in success rate and completion percentage against those coverages. But the pressure point is hard to miss: he has also been taking sacks in those situations, and if that trend continues against a Browns defense built to challenge quarterbacks that way, it could shape the outcome of a crucial matchup for New York. [Read more 🡒]
Jets Face Growing Questions Over Adonai Mitchell Injury Handling
Adonai Mitchell has already missed the last two weeks with an undisclosed finger injury, and his absence is starting to raise more than routine availability questions for the Jets. The third-year receiver was ruled out for the upcoming game, and he has not practiced recently, leaving the team to manage a situation that has lingered without much clarity while the offense waits for another healthy option at receiver.
What has made the injury even more of a talking point is the uncertainty around its severity and the lack of any injured reserve move despite Mitchell missing multiple games. Reports have suggested the finger may be broken and could require surgery, but Aaron Glenn has pushed back on that line of thinking, leaving the Jets with a gap between the public explanation and the broader speculation around how serious this really is. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Glenn Calls Out What Really Doomed The Jets Defense
The Jets came out of Week 4 with plenty to sort through after Chicago piled up yards and kept drives moving in a game that never really settled into New Yorks favor. The defense bent far too often, but Aaron Glenns postgame attention kept landing on a more specific issue than the raw yardage total, the kind of detail coaches tend to circle when a game gets away from them.
For Glenn, the bigger problem was how often the Bears were allowed to extend possessions and avoid handing the ball back. New York was flagged 12 times for 76 yards, and those mistakes repeatedly undercut whatever the defense managed to do on a given snap, turning stops into fresh chances for Chicago and leaving the Jets chasing the game with little margin anywhere else. [Read more 🡒]