The organization would never say the quiet part out loud, but many Jets fans were less than pleased with the team winning two of its final three games of the regular season. After starting 0-13, the Jets avoided NFL infamy with wins over the Rams and Jets, but perhaps at a cost. Finishing 2-14 New York will pick second in the 2021 NFL Draft, likely missing out on Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence.
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Considered a generational talent, Lawrence has been hyped as the likely No. 1 pick in this draft since coming out of high school, and in all likelihood he'll be headed to Jacksonville in April. But what does that mean for New York? If they chose to draft a quarterback with the second pick there are some options - notably Ohio State's Justin Fields and BYU's Zach Wilson. Looking at the last 10 years of drafts, how have those picking the "second" quarterback fared? Here's some recent history:
2020: Joe Burrow went from projected late-round pick to the surefire No. 1 pick this past year, and he looked the part for Cincinnati before tearing his ACL. It's way too early to judge this QB class, but there are some concerns about the second one taken. Miami's Tua Tagovailoa struggled a bit in his rookie season, capped by the 56-26 demolition in a must-win Week 17 against Buffalo. One pick after the Dolphins picked Tua, the Chargers nabbed likely Offensive Rookie of the Year Justin Herbert.
2019: Kyler Murray went No. 1 overall to the Cardinals, and there were a bunch of quarterbacks in that "other" group. The Giants were highly derided for using the sixth pick on Daniel Jones, and the jury's still out. Jones has seemed to turn a corner in cutting down on the turnovers and with New York winning five of its final eight games, perhaps the future has some promise.
He's certainly better than the only other first-round quarterback taken, as Dwayne Haskins is already out of Washington.
2018: Baker Mayfield was the No. 1 pick to Cleveland, and Jets fans were elated when Sam Darnold fell into their laps with the third pick. While he's not the worst first-rounder taken that year (hi, Josh Rosen) he's clearly not on the same level as the rest of the class. Lamar Jackson is the reigning MVP, Josh Allen broke out to NFL superstardom in 2020 and while Mayfield isn't on that level, he just led the Browns to an 11-5 record and their first playoff appearance since 2002.
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2017: Here's what Jets fans are hoping to have happen. The Bears traded up to take Mitchell Trubisky with the second overall pick, and the first QB off the board. His time in Chicago is likely coming to an end. The second quarterback taken? Patrick Mahomes, who at age 25 already has an MVP and a Super Bowl, and already looks like one of the best pure arm talents the league has ever seen. Heck, Jets fans would take a Deshaun Watson type, as he was the third signal caller drafted.
2016: This is a weird one. The Rams traded up for Jared Goff, who took them to a Super Bowl but has largely been... fine?... in his NFL career. With the second pick the Eagles nabbed Carson Wentz, and for a few years it looked great. Wentz was an MVP candidate before a season-ending injury in 2017. Health was really the only knock on him until 2020, when the wheels fell off. He led the NFL in interceptions, got benched for Jalen Hurts and now wants out of Philly.
The best quarterback from this class probably Dak Prescott, who went in the fourth round.
2015: QBs went 1-2 in this draft, but neither worked to plan. Jameis Winston went first to Tampa Bay, and while he led the league in yards in 2019, he also threw 30(!) interceptions, never led the Bucs to the playoffs and is now a backup in New Orleans. Marcus Mariota went second to Tennessee and never found his rhythm, ending with his benching in favor of Ryan Tannehill last year. He's now a backup in Vegas. It was a fairly bad QB class in 2015, with Trevor Siemian and Brett Hundley as the "notable" other selections.
2014: The first quarterback taken didn't work out in Blake Bortles (though he did lead the Jags to within a quarter of the Super Bowl). The second quarterback wasn't drafted until midway through the first round... and Johnny Manziel's time in Cleveland was short-lived. Another weak class, there were other first-rounders in Teddy Bridgewater and Derek Carr, plus Jimmy Garoppolo in the second.
2013: You'll almost never see this again. In a historically bad class, the first quarterback wasn't drafted until the 14th overall pick, when the Bills whiffed on EJ Manuel, and he was the only QB taken in the first round. The second QB taken was Geno Smith in the second round, and while he didn't pan out, either, none of the other draftees did, either. Smith actually led the 2013 class in wins (12), double the amount of the next closest (Mike Glennon, who leads the class with 43 career touchdown passes).
2012: The best pre-draft parallel to 2021 is the 2012 class. The sure-fire No. 1 pick who inspired the first tanking hashtag (#SuckForLuck) was Andrew Luck, who was a franchise quarterback for Indianapolis before his stunning retirement prior to 2019. The second QB? Heisman winner Robert Griffin III and in Year 1 Washington probably thought they hit the jackpot. RGIII led the team to the playoffs and won Rookie of the Year, but a knee injury altered the course of his career and he hasn't started full-time since 2014.
The best QB from that class is Russell Wilson, who of course was a third-rounder. Of the first-round draftees, the best that's still in the league is Ryan Tannehill, who looked like a bust in Miami before revitalizing his career in Tennessee.
2011: Cam Newton went first overall, won an MVP and led the Panthers to a Super Bowl before injuries set in. The second QB taken was a whiff in Jake Locker, who went 9-14 across three seasons with the Titans. He was followed in the first round by Blaine Gabbert and Christian Ponder, neither of whom exactly thrived as starters. Other QBs taken include second-rounders Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick.
So what does all this mean for the Jets? While it's obviously nicer to get your pick of the litter when it comes to quarterbacks and getting the second choice doesn't always work, it can!