Jets fans will lose it at this all-time ridiculous QB suggestion

The New York Jets have spent the vast majority of their existence as a franchise searching for a franchise quarterback. The organization has painstakingly cycled through prospects, stopgaps, and wishful-thinking experiments, with each era ending with the same familiar outcome.

Every decade brought a new supposed savior, and every decade ended with fans wondering how a team could try so hard and come up so empty. And as the Jets enter an uncertain 2026 offseason, they once again find themselves at a similar crossroads.

But fear not, because the ever-loquacious Craig Carton has uncovered the solution to the Jets’ eternal quarterback problem. It's a solution so obvious, so galaxy-brained, that it’s genuinely shocking the Jets haven’t jumped on it already.

Carton proposed on his self-titled radio show this weekend that the Jets should call up the Kansas City Chiefs and try to trade for — yes, you guessed it — Patrick Mahomes. Brilliant! How has this genius idea not crossed the Jets’ minds before?

Carton wasn't being flippant, either. This was an earnest take about his plan to fix the Jets' quarterback position. Truly incredible analysis.

"If the New York Jets call up the Kansas City Chiefs and say…I’ll give you four first-round picks and a second-round pick…and I want Patrick Mahomes for that!"

Craig Carton

Craig Carton believes the Jets should trade for Patrick Mahomes

The former and soon-to-be current again WFAN host suggested that the Jets offer the Chiefs four first-round picks and a second-round pick in exchange for two-time MVP and three-time Super Bowl champion.

The idea here is that the Jets have five first-round picks over the next two years and that they should bundle those assets to acquire the quarterback they've been looking for. It's a logical conclusion to draw, but there's just one problem.

This is Patrick Mahomes. This is arguably the single most untouchable player in the entire NFL. Kansas City wouldn’t trade Mahomes for four first-round picks, four decades of first-round picks, or the deed to Manhattan.

The idea that the Jets could simply back up a draft-pick dump truck and drive away with maybe the best quarterback of his generation is, to put it gently, not rooted in reality.

If it were that simple to acquire a quarterback like Mahomes, every team in the league would be speed-dialing Kansas City with a stack of draft picks and a dream. The Jets may have more draft capital than any team in football, but that doesn't mean they can just pluck players from other teams.

The Jets acquired those draft picks to help find their quarterback of the future and to then use those resources to build around them. That's likely still their preferred route, whether they ultimately add a QB in the 2026 NFL Draft or not.

If the Jets could call up Brett Veach and trade their draft picks for Patrick Mahomes, they’d do it without question. But the NFL doesn’t work like that.

Mahomes is as close to untradeable as a professional athlete can be, which is why Carton’s grand solution lands squarely in the realm of comedy and not team-building. But hey, it never hurts to throw out ideas, right?