C.J. Stroud trade noise might've gifted the Jets a golden offseason opportunity

Not to get your hopes up, New York Jets fans, but why not get the real juicy fodder going already? We're a week away from the NFL Combine and less than a month away from free agency.

So, here... we... go.

On one of his recent podcast episodes, ESPN's Todd McShay offered quite the heater of a nugget, and it could wind up impacting the Jets' quarterback search. McShay seems to have heard something along the lines of a potential C.J. Stroud trade, and you better believe this team should be paying attention.

"But the intriguing stuff, I’m told, don’t be surprised in the next couple weeks, as we get closer and closer to free agency, there’s going to be some big-name quarterbacks that are currently in destinations, that have contracts that are going to be targeted. Teams are going to be aggressive. C.J. [Stroud’s] one of them."

Todd McShay

C.J. Stroud should be an option for the Jets, but only to an extent

Look, this team has been quarterback-starved since Zach Wilson could barely walk — that is, unless you want to count a few bright spots from Mark Sanchez, grandpa Brett Favre, or the handful of good games out of the aging Aaron Rodgers.

Being able to land a quarterback like Stroud would be a potential game-changer for this franchise. But how far would New York go to make a deal happen?

This is all whispering right now, but in a hypothetical scenario, let's say the Houston Texans want to try to move Stroud while going forward with Davis Mills (what a world, right?).

Houston would very likely be asking for, at minimum, a first-round pick, a Day 2 pick, and a starting-caliber player. At least, that's my assumption. Maybe they'd even desire two first-round picks — and the Jets could make that happen.

But, should they?

We have seen enough out of Stroud to think that he might just be what he is. He's a good-enough quarterback, for the most part, but can't win when it counts. Even with a top-tier defense opposite him, Stroud wasn't able to convince the NFL world that he's capable of winning the big one.

Is he a starter in this league? Absolutely.

But is he a long-term franchise quarterback that the Jets should try to build a championship team around? I'm not so sure.

His 19 passing touchdowns and eight picks look fine last year, considering he missed three games, but he looks more and more like a guy who will continue to be a serviceable quarterback without having the "it" factor that will allow him to win it all. His passing yards per game and passing success rate were both the lowest of his career in 2025, and that was also without a consistent run game.

If the Jets could land Stroud for a first-round pick and maybe a couple of other selections, then yes, they should absolutely do that to try and compete right now. But they ought to be careful about offering anything more.