The bizarre Tyrod Taylor pattern that could help the Jets find a franchise QB

The New York Jets are once again set to enter an offseason in search of widespread quarterback changes. The Justin Fields experiment crashed and burned, Tyrod Taylor is unlikely to be back, and the less said about the Brady Cook era, the better.

But as the Jets search for their long-awaited franchise savior yet again, one bizarre trend has inspired a little tongue-in-cheek optimism.

Taylor spent the last two seasons in New York, first as Aaron Rodgers’ backup and then as a temporary starter after the Jets benched Justin Fields this year. He started four games in 2025, finishing with 779 passing yards, five touchdowns, five interceptions, and a 59.7 percent completion rate.

As Taylor’s Jets tenure appears to be winding down, one Twitter user named Greengo pointed out a bizarre pattern that has followed the veteran throughout his NFL career.

Nearly every time that Taylor leaves a team, that team soon after finds its franchise quarterback. It’s not a serious theory — and definitely not predictive analysis — but it’s strange enough to be worth exploring.

Could Tyrod Taylor help the Jets land a franchise quarterback?

Taylor’s first NFL stop came with the Baltimore Ravens from 2011 to 2014. This is the weakest example of the trend. Baltimore already had Joe Flacco entrenched as its franchise quarterback, and while the Ravens would eventually draft Lamar Jackson in 2018, that move came years later.

The pattern really begins in Buffalo. Taylor served as the Bills’ starter from 2015 to 2017 before the team moved on. One year later, Buffalo drafted Josh Allen, and the rest is history. This is the cleanest and most convincing example of the Taylor phenomenon.

Next came Cleveland in 2018. Taylor began the season as the Browns’ starter before Baker Mayfield took over as a rookie, coincidentally enough in a game against the Jets.

While Mayfield’s tenure in Cleveland didn’t end on great terms, he absolutely qualifies as a franchise quarterback in context, snapping the Browns’ playoff drought and later reinventing himself as a high-level starter with Tampa Bay. In hindsight, this one looks better than it did at the time.

Then comes Taylor's stop with the Los Angeles Chargers. After an injury sidelined him early in the 2020 season, Justin Herbert stepped in and never gave the job back. Herbert immediately emerged as a franchise cornerstone, making this another textbook example of Taylor acting as the final bridge before a team gets it right.

Houston followed in 2021. Taylor played one season with the Texans during a rebuild year. Two seasons later, the Texans drafted C.J. Stroud, who quickly became one of the league’s brightest young stars. The timeline is longer here, but the result absolutely still fits the pattern.

His most recent stint before the Jets was with the New York Giants. After Taylor’s departure, the Giants drafted Jaxson Dart in 2025. It’s far too early to crown Dart a franchise quarterback, but his rookie year was encouraging enough to keep the trend alive at least for now.

So, what exactly does this mean for the Jets? No, Tyrod Taylor is not a quarterback oracle. This is coincidence, not causation. But Taylor has repeatedly been the placeholder right before organizations finally commit to a true reset and land their long-term answer.

As his likely Jets exit approaches, fans are understandably joking about whether history could repeat itself one more time. After everything this franchise has tried at quarterback, even ironic optimism will do.

And if nothing else, Jets fans can at least say that when Tyrod Taylor leaves, positive change usually follows. Maybe that's something.