Jets in precarious spot at quarterback

The New York Jets are already in a bind at quarterback.

Derek Carr, one of their first choices, signed a reported four-year, $150 million deal with the New Orleans Saints on Monday.

That’s the danger of waiting for Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers to make his decision of wanting to be traded to the Jets. Others make their decisions with other teams quickly as we saw with Carr

That’s the danger of having a quarterback implode in front of the organization’s eyes as in the case of Zach Wilson. It puts a team in a position to hope for the best that either Rodgers or free agent Jimmy Garoppolo wants to play for them. This is the world the Jets are in right now.

It really is not in a good position to be.

If worse comes to worst, the Jets may have to trade draft picks to get Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson just to salvage their situation.

Carr would have been perfect for the Jets. He would have played with something to prove after the Las Vegas Raiders cut him. He would have been efficient at quarterback. No one would question his toughness out there. He is everything the Jets wish Wilson was.

With that defense and a running game, Carr would not have to do much. He would have been a classic game manager that would make an occasional throw to the end zone.

He would have been more of a sure thing than Rodgers or Garoppolo.

We will never know what happened here. It sure seemed like Carr did not want to wait anymore, so he made the decision to sign with the Saints. It could also be that the Jets were never interested in him, or else they would have been aggressive about signing him.

So now, it’s Rodgers or bust for the Jets.

No one knows what the Packers diva wants to do. Shoot, he probably doesn’t know what he wants to do. He may realize he has it good with the Packers, so he may just stay. He could also retire. He can go in so many directions here.

Rodgers is going to milk up his decision as much as he can. The Jets had to know this going in. This is a life-changing experience for him to go to another team, especially in a market like New York, so yes, this was not going to be all-of-a sudden decision for him.

The Jets have to wonder if they want to wait this long. He can wait until May or training camp before he decides. This was why they were better off signing Carr than going for Rodgers.

It’s in the Jets’ best interest to get their quarterback situation resolved quickly so that the quarterback can get to work with his new teammates and develop chemistry right away. Chemistry matters in football in the sense a quarterback can be familiar with his wide receiver’s strengths and tendencies which would put both in a position to succeed.

The Jets shouldn’t really have overdone it with their quarterback situation. They don’t need a dynamic quarterback to win games. They already have the defense and running game to do that. What they needed was a quarterback that would put the offense on the field and manage the game well. A quarterback that they can win for the next five years. This is another reason they should have settled with Carr.

Signing Garoppolo would salvage the situation more than getting Rodgers or acquiring Jackson. Yes, he is injury-prone. Yes, he can be erratic. But when he is out there, the team wins. The offense functions well when he is out there. The Jets could do much worse than that as they saw with Wilson and Mike White.

Jackson would not be the right choice in the sense the Jets would have to trade up draft picks to get him. The Baltimore Ravens will ask for a king’s ransom in return for him. As good as Jackson is, does he really make the Jets that much better?

It could be now the Jets have no choice but to wait to see what Rodgers does.

The current situation is not optional for the Jets. As good of a story as Mike White is, he is injury-prone. Wilson’s time has come and gone here in a sense he needs a reset elsewhere to get his career back.

The Jets can’t sell their frustrated fanbase with this current option.

It sure seems like all signs point to the Jets being patient to see what Rodgers will do. It’s going to be a long process, but the Jets are willing to wait. They know they may be the only suitor out there for his services.

However, there’s no guarantee that he wants to play here. Even if he does play here, he carries so much risk in terms of how his behavior will fare in New York. Plus, how much he has left in his fastball remains to be seen. He raises more questions than people would think. There has to be a reason why the Packers are more than happy to move on.

Carr would have been the safe and right choice.

Now, the Jets are willing to sell their soul to the devil.

What a tangled web the Jets weave in a quarterback search that has been ongoing since Joe Namath’s departure.

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