The Jets keep running into the same wall at quarterback, and the answer may not be sitting in their own building. Geno Smith hasn’t been a disaster, but he also hasn’t been the kind of solution that lets New York stop looking. With three first-round picks coming in next year’s draft, the Jets have real options, and one of them could eventually come through a trade.
That’s where Justin Herbert enters the picture.
Herbert is the kind of name that changes the conversation because he’s already shown enough to look like a legitimate franchise quarterback, even if the flaws are there. The idea only gets louder if the Chargers decide to reset after starting 0-4.
“I can’t believe it has come to this point, but it’s time the 0-4 Chargers explore every option for how to best rebuild this team, including the possibility of trading Herbert (19-of-31, 189 yards, TD, 2 INTs), who struggled in the 30-23 loss to the Seahawks. Herbert would likely generate at least two first-round picks, as the Lions did after trading Matthew Stafford to the Rams in 2021. Maybe even three first-rounders, since Herbert is only 28 and Stafford got moved after turning 30,” Gilberto Manzano wrote.
“Some might say that Herbert’s performances lately aren’t worth that asking price. The same was said about Stafford, who had his fair share of rough performances amid difficult circumstances in Detroit. (He didn’t become the all-time leader in pick-sixes thrown by accident.)”
That’s the risk-reward swing the Jets would be staring at. Herbert is good enough to tempt you, but expensive enough to make you stop and think hard. Three first-round picks is a massive ask for any quarterback who isn’t clearly among the best five to 10 players in the world.
And that’s the rub here. Herbert can be placed somewhere around that range, but he’s not a spotless bet. There are questions with him too, which is why New York would have to be careful about how far it goes.
If the price comes down to one or two first-round picks, the Jets suddenly have something far more reasonable to consider.
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