The New York Jets are doing their homework on one of the top quarterback prospects expected to be available in the 2026 NFL draft.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel revealed that Jets general manager Darren Mougey will be in State College, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, September 27, “for The White Out match-up between No. 6 Oregon and No. 3 Penn State.”
“Drew Allar has worked hard to position himself to be the first PSU 1st-round QB since 1995,” Thamel posted on social media.
Frankie V., a contributor to the New York Post, said on X previously Twitter that the Jets are “very intrigued [by] Drew Allar.”
Allar Is an Intriguing Prospect
The Nittany Lions‘ product is 21 years old. He stands at 6-foot-5 and tips the scales at 235 pounds.
“Penn State quarterback Drew Allar’s rare combination of prototypical size, experience, and production makes him one of the buzziest prospects in college football entering the 2025 season,” NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah wrote.
“Allar has ideal size and arm strength. He has a big, sturdy frame and can generate outstanding velocity with very little effort,” Jeremiah added.
Across his first three collegiate seasons heading into 2025, Allar racked up video game numbers. He collected 6,302 passing yards, owned a 53 touchdown to 10 interception ratio, and completed 62% of his passes.
Allar also added 560 rushing yards and 11 rushing touchdowns on the ground.
Jets Analyst Believes Team Will Pursue the Penn State Big Man
“Think there’s a real possibility the Jets go after Drew Allar in 2026,” Jets X-Factor writer Stefan Stelling posted on social media.
Jets New Regime Punted on the QB Position in Draft
The green and white had an opportunity to dip their toes in the rookie quarterback waters during the 2025 NFL draft, but they passed.
This season will determine if the Jets decide to do that again.
Justin Fields joined the team this offseason on a two-year $40 million contract. That deal includes $30 million in guaranteed money, which will likely keep Fields here in New York regardless of results.
However, how he performs will reveal whether Fields is the clear-cut starting QB1 in 2026 or whether that could be a talented rookie quarterback instead.
Jets Fans Will Be Haunted by Draft Ghosts From the Past
It’s inherently unfair to bring this up because they are different players entirely, but Jets fans don’t have a great relationship with Penn State quarterbacks.
In the 2016 NFL draft, the Jets selected QB Christian Hackenberg with the No. 51 overall pick in the second round.
He is considered one of the biggest draft busts in Jets‘ franchise history. Despite his lofty draft status, Hackenberg never played a regular-season snap for the green and white. That would be bad enough, but Hackenberg’s presence on the team affected their draft plans in 2017.
A year later, the Jets held the No. 6 overall pick in the first round of the 2017 NFL draft. Quarterback was still a major issue, but the “they were one year into the Christian Hackenberg experiment and, while coach Todd Bowles already had seen enough, general manager Mike Maccagnan still wasn’t ready to write off his risky draft pick. If you recall, Hackenberg got a chance in the 2017 preseason to win the starting job. Maccagnan’s stubbornness and lack of foresight proved costly,” ESPN’s Rich Cimini wrote.
The Jets could have selected Patrick Mahomes, whom they did a lot of “homework” on during that pre-draft process, according to Cimini. Instead, they went with safety Jamal Adams out of LSU, and the rest is history.
Jets GM Visiting With 6-Foot-5 Big Armed QB: ‘Very Intrigued’