The New York Jets acquired three additional first-round draft picks on Tuesday when they traded away two of their best players, and longtime ESPN analyst Damien Woody has an interesting prediction about how the team might use that draft capital.
The Jets stunned the NFL when they traded All-Pro cornerback Sauce Gardner to the Indianapolis Colts ahead of Tuesday’s deadline. They acquired two first-round picks in that deal. New York then traded star defensive tackle Quinnen Williams to the Dallas Cowboys and landed another first-round pick and a second-round pick.
With the Jets essentially giving up on the 2025 season, most have assumed they will look to draft a quarterback early next year and then use their additional high draft picks to build out their roster. Woody, a former Pro Bowl offensive lineman who spent the final three seasons of his career in New York, wonders if the Jets might try to trade for a veteran quarterback.
“Ppl (sic) presume the #Jets with their bounty of picks will use to draft their QB but don’t dismiss them acquiring a vet QB via trade,” Woody wrote in a post on X Wednesday.
Ppl presume the #Jets with their bounty of picks will use to draft their QB but don’t dismiss them acquiring a vet QB via trade
— Damien Woody (@damienwoody) November 5, 2025
The Jets have not been to the playoffs since 2010. They have drafted and developed numerous star players since then, but they cannot seem to solve their quarterback problem. Even team owner Woody Johnson reminded fans of that with a harsh comment earlier this season.
Justin Fields signed a two-year, $40 million deal with the Jets this past offseason, and he has been a disaster. New York has used high draft picks on star college quarterbacks like Mark Sanchez, Geno Smith, Sam Darnold and Zach Wilson in recent years, and none of those players panned out.
A trade for a proven veteran might be the next logical step, though that would also carry plenty of risk. Most teams would not even entertain the idea of trading a starting-caliber QB. We can think of one notable quarterback who could become available, but there is a reason his team might look to move on after the season.
