Oregon quarterback Dante Moore has decided to return to college next season and leaves the Jets in a very familiar and equally frustrating position. They don’t have a QB now, and they’re unlikely to land one who can be the guy later on.
Many had hoped Moore would declare for the NFL draft and either give the Jets a quarterback of the future, or at the very least, an invaluable trade chip for any team willing to move up and take him with the second overall pick. Instead, Moore goes back to being a duck, and the Jets go back to QB purgatory.
No Dante Moore means hoping to strike gold later on in the draft, and searching for their 2026 signal caller by way of a free agent addition, trade or what would likely be a round two or three pick. That’s not to say other team’s haven’t hit on picks outside of round 1, or that the Jets can’t take one at the back of the round via trade as the Giants did with Jaxson Dart.
But for those fans hoping Moore would throw his hat in the ring, they were forced to go from believing Moore would be the guy, to finding a way to cope, suggesting that all of a sudden, he wasn’t worth the second overall pick after all.
What the situation does is put the Jets in a spot where they may have to put a few more quarterbacks under the microscope in ways that they wouldn’t have had to if they had a shot at Moore.
When the Jets send a contingent to Mobile for the Senior Bowl this year, they may want to take an extended look at LSU quarterback Garrett Nussmeier. Previously viewed as a round one lock, Nussmeier faltered badly in Baton Rouge before landing on the bench late in the season. Some suggest there may have been an injury he was dealing with, so Mobile will give him a chance at some level of redemption.
Outside of Mobile, there will of course be Cade Klubnik and Drew Allar of Clemson and Penn State respectively. Two more players who had round one hopes, but who flopped in their final college seasons. Even if just one of the three can work their way back up draft bords, the Jes may have a decent option in April that they don’t look to have today.
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