Getty Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart posing after playing in a college football game.
The New York Jets boast the oldest quarterback room in football.
Sooner rather than later, they have to start thinking about the future. Brent Sobleski did exactly that in the “ultimate 2025 NFL mock draft” for Bleacher Report which also included the top high school football recruits.
In his mock draft simulation, Sobleski projected the Jets to select Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart with the No. 22 overall pick in the first round.
“Will someone make a Joe Burrow/Jayden Daniels-type run toward the top of the draft? Can the upcoming class feature the depth this year’s class ultimately provided? Who will emerge along the way? In this case, Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart gets the nod based on his current situation and what he can achieve this fall,” Sobleski explained. “To be clear, the 21-year-old will benefit from Lane Kiffin’s simplified RPO-heavy scheme. The quarterback’s situation will certainly factor into how he’s viewed by those in the NFL. At the same time, a huge performance can go a long way in some organization’s willingness to invest in his talent. The Rebels are loaded at the skill positions, with a veteran O-line blocking for them. Dart has a chance to post huge numbers in the SEC and become the breakout prospect, which is critical for a New York Jets squad relying on the 40-year-old Aaron Rodgers.”
This exercise was a tip of the cap to the upcoming MLB draft which has a completely different structure to the NFL draft.
The Complicated Task for Jets GM Joe Douglas
The Jets are all in on 2024. They have a 40-year-old quarterback in Aaron Rodgers and a roster littered with veterans on one-year deals hoping to ring chase.
Ex-NFL general manager Randy Mueller told me on my podcast, “Boy Green Daily”, that this Jets team is the most all-in team he has seen in over 40 years.
Jets general manager Joe Douglas can’t afford to look too far into the future. If he doesn’t perform up to snuff this year, he won’t be here in 2025.
On the same token, the Jets are dealing with several pressing issues in the not-so-distant future including multiple contract extensions for young emerging stars and life after Rodgers.
Rodgers has continually said that he doesn’t believe this will be a “one-and-done” thing with the Jets. He has assured fans that he plans on playing at least two seasons with the Jets, not counting the injury-shortened 2023 season.
Whether he does or doesn’t, Rodgers is closer to the end of his career than the beginning. New York’s only young prospect on the roster is Florida State rookie Jordan Travis.
The Jets took him in the fifth round but he’s nothing more than a dart throw on an injured older college football prospect. He might work out, but it’s more likely than not that he doesn’t.
Jets Taking Another ‘Dart’ Throw in the 2025 NFL Draft?
If Travis isn’t the answer, or Rodgers, or even 34-year-old Tyrod Taylor then maybe it’s time to prepare for the next era of Jets football.
The complicated part of that equation is the Jets are projected to be good this season. If that holds serve, the Jets’ 2025 first-round draft choice will come at the later end of the first round.
That would severely limit the Jets’ options of taking a young quarterback. The QB position is a premium and if there are good ones in the draft, they usually go early.
Sometimes players slip in the draft and the Jets might be hoping for that to occur next April.
Dart has played three seasons of college football so far with one year at USC and the last two at Ole Miss. There have been plenty of highs and lows with Dart completing 63.4% of his passes, having thrown for 7,691 passing yards, and owning a 52 touchdown to 21 interception ratio.
Although he’s coming off of a career year in completion percentage (65.1%), yards per attempt (9.4), quarterback rating (162.4), and touchdown passes (23).
The arrow is pointing up for Dart has he heads into his fourth season in college football.
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Jets Predicted to Add ‘Joe Burrow’ Type Breakout QB Prospect