Content available exclusively for subscribers
A year ago, the Jets were looking for a QB after showing Aaron Rodgers the door.
There were a lot of rumors about the Jets being interested in Pittsburgh Steelers QB Justin Fields.
And many fans thought it was a great idea.
The thinking:
“Hey, he was dealt a bad hand in Chicago – bad coaching, bad weapons, and so forth.”
“Hey, he went 4-2 as a starter in Pittsburgh in 2024.”
That was some of the spin you heard.
The Jets signed him to a two-year, $40 million deal with $30 million guaranteed and named him the starter in late March.
He went 2-7 as a starter for the Jets to make his career record 16-37.
There was a lot of excitement about the signing, with people thinking he could be like Sam Darnold in Minnesota in 2024, where he resurrected his career after some failed gigs in other places.
It just didn’t work out that way for Fields, who needs to change positions to perhaps WR, RB, or TE.
So now let’s fast forward to February 2026, and you are seeing people pushing Kyler Murray as a possible option as the Jets QB.
It’s like history repeating itself.
It’s the silly season for QB talk.
It’s like this time of year, people look at other teams’ disappointing QBs, ignore their film, and think they can be the panacea for their team.
What a bad idea for the Jets to pursue Murray, a 5-9 QB, who, if you keep him in the pocket, struggles seeing the field.
Arizona just hired an offensive-minded head coach, Mike LaFleur, who has been coaching QBs and offenses in the NFL over the last decade, and he wants to move on. So if a new offensive-minded head coach for the Cardinals wants to move on, with his new team taking a big cap hit by doing so, why do you want the QB he’s showing the door?
LaFleur is being hired to bring the Sean McVay offense with him from Los Angeles to Arizona. So many teams want coaches who have run that offense to bring the secret sauce to their organization.
So Arizona hired the Rams OC to resurrect their moribund offense the last couple of years, the one led on the field by Murray, and he doesn’t want any part of Murray, but some Jets fans do?
Ridiculous.
And also, people want the Jets to go after another risky QB, Malik Willis, another move that has the earmarks of a dubious move for Gang Green.
If the Jets signed Willis, there would be a head coach up north in New England who would probably be laughing – he wanted nothing to do with having that guy under center when he was in Tennessee.
Willis could end up in Miami and get reunited with the Packers brass now running things down there, and if you are a Jets fan, you should be just fine with that. Willis is not a full-field reader, not a great progression guy.
The Jets don’t need a gimmicky QB, RPO kind of QB like Murray or Willis to run Frank Reich’s offense, they need a conventional NFL QB, who can get through his progressions – one, two, three, checkdown.
Whether that is Kirk Cousins, Jimmy Garoppolo, Carson Wentz, Ty Simpson, Garrett Nussmeir, or whoever, can we stop with the Murray/Willis stuff!
Neither is the way to go.
I’m telling you.
February 19, 2026
Premium will return by 9:30 pm (or sooner) on Friday.
