Remember Brett Favre? The Jets certainly do. They also remember Christian Hackenberg, Geno Smith, and a laundry list of other quarterbacks who arrived with hype and left with question marks. Now, with the NFL Draft approaching, whispers around Florham Park suggest another roll of the dice on a young arm: Ty Simpson, the Alabama signal-caller. Adam Schefter even brought it up on *Get Up*, which, given the Jets' history with highly-touted QBs, is either a sign of hope or a harbinger of doom.
Simpson’s college career was, to put it mildly, limited. He threw just 57 passes in his two seasons in Tuscaloosa, completing 35 of them for 360 yards and three touchdowns. His most extensive action came in the 2023 season opener against Middle Tennessee, where he went 13-for-17 for 73 yards and a score. That’s not a typo. Seventy-three yards. For a guy projected by some draftniks to go as high as the third round, those numbers are startlingly thin. He never started a game for Nick Saban, sitting behind Bryce Young and Jalen Milroe. This isn't a guy with a mountain of game tape for scouts to dissect, which makes any high-round projection feel like pure projection, not analysis.
Here's the thing: Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh are under immense pressure. Aaron Rodgers is entering his age-41 season, coming off an Achilles tear that cost him essentially all of 2023 after just four snaps. The team finished 7-10 last year, missing the playoffs for the 13th consecutive season, the longest active drought in North American professional sports. Zach Wilson, the No. 2 overall pick in 2021, flamed out spectacularly, throwing 23 touchdowns to 25 interceptions in 34 games as a Jet. The fan base is beyond impatient. Drafting a raw prospect like Simpson, who needs significant development, feels like a move a team makes when it has time. The Jets don't have time.
Look, Simpson has tools. He’s got a strong arm, good mobility, and he comes from a pro-style system at Alabama, which always appeals to NFL coaches. At 6-foot-2, 203 pounds, he fits the mold physically. But the jump from a handful of college snaps to the NFL, especially in the cauldron that is the New York market, is immense. This isn't a situation where the Jets can afford to redshirt a quarterback for two years while Rodgers chases a Super Bowl. They need a viable backup *now*, someone who can step in and win games if Rodgers gets hurt again. Simpson isn't that guy. He’s a lottery ticket, and the Jets have bought too many of those at the quarterback position.
My hot take? Drafting Ty Simpson before the sixth round would be an organizational malpractice, given the Jets' current roster construction and win-now mandate. They have too many immediate needs—offensive line depth, another reliable receiver, a safety—to spend a valuable mid-round pick on a project quarterback with such limited experience. If they pick him in the seventh round, sure, why not? It's a flyer. But anything higher feels like a desperate swing for the fences by a team that should be focusing on singles and doubles.
The Jets already have a history of falling in love with the idea of a quarterback rather than the proven production. From Hackenberg to Wilson, it’s been a painful cycle. Simpson might become a good NFL quarterback someday. But the Jets, with Rodgers's window closing and a playoff drought stretching into its second decade, are not the team that can afford to wait and find out. They need a plug-and-play contingency plan, not another long-term project.
Bold prediction: The Jets will pass on Ty Simpson in the draft, instead opting for a veteran backup in free agency before training camp.