Patrick Mahomes' injury could have massive implications on Jets' draft plans

Week 15 was a somber week for the NFL, as two of the league’s biggest stars, Patrick Mahomes and Micah Parsons, both suffered ACL tears. Now, they will focus on recovery, and their teams have to move on without them for the time being.

For the 9-4-1 Green Bay Packers, that will likely be to the playoffs. For the 6-8 Kansas City Chiefs, who were eliminated from playoff contention on Sunday, that will be finishing the last three weeks strongly.

While the New York Jets have their own unique struggles to deal with, the way Kansas City fares without Mahomes in the final three weeks of the regular season could have a huge impact on the Jets' offseason.

The reason for that is draft positioning. The Jets are in the mix for the top pick in the 2026 Draft, but they will need a few teams to win some more games to secure that top pick. A couple of those teams are set to face the now-Mahomes-less Chiefs in the upcoming weeks.

Chiefs will help determine where the Jets will pick in the 2026 Draft

The Jets, at 3-11, are currently slated to have the No. 5 pick in the draft. Ahead of the Jets are the 3-11 Cleveland Browns, and the Tennessee Titans, Las Vegas Raiders, and New York Giants, who are all 2-12. With three games left for each team, the draft order near the top has the potential to change around quite a bit.

That's where Kansas City comes in to play. In the Chiefs’ final three games, they will play both the Titans and the Raiders. The Chiefs have struggled all year, and now, they will be without Patrick Mahomes.

This doesn’t mean the Chiefs are guaranteed to lose their final three games, as Gardner Minshew takes over under center, but the games are certainly more winnable now for Tennessee and Las Vegas.

If both teams can get wins against the Chiefs, and the Jets lose out, Gang Green could slide into the top three, and potentially even No. 1 overall, depending on what else happens around the league.

That would give the Jets an opportunity to land a top quarterback prospect without having to trade a significant package to move up. Suddenly, those two Chiefs games feel very winnable for both Tennessee and Las Vegas.

The Jets could reasonably stand to benefit from the deeply unfortunate Mahomes injury.