The New York Jets could make a second run at Washington Commanders quarterback Marcus Mariota this offseason.
Zack Rosenblatt of The Athletic said, “If the Jets decide to kick the quarterback bucket to 2027,” they could go after Mariota. If the Jets pursued the former Heisman trophy-winning quarterback, it wouldn’t be the first time.
Last offseason, this current regime of Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey had conversations about Mariota. On March 2, 2025, Hughes revealed that the Jets planned to attack “the second-tier veteran quarterback market, ” and he told everyone to “keep an eye on” Mariota as an option.
NFL Insider Connor Hughes of SNY also said that if Fields ditched the Jets at the altar for the Pittsburgh Steelers, they would have turned their attention to Mariota and veteran Carson Wentz.
Mariota Is a Professional Quarterback
The former Oregon product entered the league as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2015 NFL draft.
He spent the first five seasons of his career with the Tennessee Titans. He then spent two years as a backup quarterback with the Las Vegas Raiders. Since 2021, Mariota has been with four different teams over the last five years.
Mariota, 32, won a Heisman in 2014, his final collegiate season. He finished that year with a 68.3% completion percentage, threw for 4,454 passing yards, and had a 42 touchdown to four interception ratio.
He also added 770 rushing yards on the ground, averaged 5.7 yards per carry, and scored 15 touchdowns.
That was a long time ago.
More recently, Mariota has been holding a clipboard as opposed to a football. He hasn’t been a full-time starter in four years, since his time with the Atlanta Falcons. To put that into more perspective, in four of the last six years, he hasn’t started a game in a season.
The only reason that isn’t five of the last six years is because of injuries to Jayden Daniels this year for the Commanders. That forced Washington to turn to Mariota.
This season, he appeared in 11 games and made eight starts. With those opportunities, Mariota wasn’t spectacular, but he was solid. He completed 61.2% of his passes, threw for 1,695 passing yards, and had a 10 touchdown to seven interception ratio.
Those old legs also contributed 297 rushing yards and a touchdown. He averaged 5.9 yards per carry.
Mariota Can’t Be the Only QB Option for the Jets
Across his 11 seasons in the NFL, Mariota has appeared in 104 games and has made 82 starts. He has a 36-46 record as a starting quarterback.
Mariota has racked up 17,879 passing yards, has a 107 touchdown to 62 interception ratio, and he has completed 62.8% of his passes.
The veteran passer could be a fine bridge for the Jets in the short term, but he can’t be the only solution at quarterback.
Over the last 11 years, the Jets have been forced to use multiple starting quarterbacks in the same season nine times. Only twice has that not been the case: 2024 (Aaron Rodgers) and 2015 (Ryan Fitzpatrick).
In other words, when you play quarterback for the Jets — weird stuff inevitably happens. You’d better have insulation at the QB position or else.
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