Ranking the AFC East QB rooms: Where do Aaron Rodgers and the NY Jets stand?

The NY Jets are primed to be contenders in 2024. That much is sure. They have a talented roster from top to bottom, Super Bowl aspirations, and the built-up pressure of years of failure waiting to be unleashed.

While talented, the AFC East landscape is loaded with contenders and teams that cannot be underestimated. Buffalo has claimed the division crown in the last four seasons.

Miami has a high-octane offense with an upstart young head coach looking to make his mark. In New England, a new era has dawned and the shadow of their former greatness still looms large.

We're going to take an in-depth look at how these four teams stack up against each other, position by position, starting with perhaps the most important position in all of sports, the quarterback.

For this exercise, we're looking at the entirety of the room, so while star power is important, injuries are a fact of life in the NFL and depth matters. Therefore backups and role players will be considered in these rankings.

With all that said, let's get into these rankings and see where the Jets stack up. We're going to go in order of worst to first and provide a detailed breakdown of what each team has to offer and where they may fall short.

4. The New England Patriots - Jacoby Brissett returns, Drake Maye will try to prove he's a franchise QB

First, the depth chart: Jacoby Brissett enters as the presumptive starter, Drake Maye is the No. 2 QB who may take over starting duties at some point in 2024, and 2022 fourth-round pick Bailey Zappe will battle 2024 sixth-round pick Joe Milton for the No. 3 QB spot.

Brissett has fans in the Jets locker room, and some fans even preferred him as a stop-gap QB over Aaron Rodgers last offseason. He's also torn the Jets up in the past, most recently going 10 for 13 with 100 yards and a touchdown in relief of Sam Howell in the Jets' Week 16 matchup with Washington last season.

As a starter, first in Indianapolis and later during Deshaun Watson's suspension in Cleveland, he's proven to be a steady hand. That said, Brissett is more likely not to be the reason you lose a game than the reason you win a game.

For his career, he averages just 6.6 yards per attempt, meaning he's taking a lot of check-downs and dump-offs. His career 51 touchdowns to 23 interceptions demonstrate that while he's careful with the ball, he's not going to put a lot of points on the board.

All in all, this makes him a high-level backup QB. The kind that can keep a team in the game if the starter misses time and can be lifted by his defense and supporting cast. Unfortunately for New England, he won't have a lot of help from his playmakers to mask some of his limitations.

Many assume at some point during the 2024 season, Brissett will hand over the reins to this year's third overall pick, former University of North Carolina Tar Heel Drake Maye.

Maye is a big and athletic quarterback who played in a sub-optimal system at North Carolina. He will use his athleticism to keep plays alive and is always searching for the big play downfield.

As per Pro Football Focus's scouting report, this can be both a blessing and a curse for Maye. When it works, he's able to utilize his superior athleticism and rocket arm to keep plays alive and make something happen downfield, but when it doesn't his footwork betrays him and he can misfire badly leading to turnover-worthy plays.

How the soon-to-be 22-year-old turns out is anyone's guess. He's obviously got all of the tools to be a star and could end up quickly becoming the best QB in the division. However, for that to happen, he'll need to improve his footwork and decision-making, specifically under pressure, to not bust.

Lastly, you have Zappe and Milton vying for the No. 3 spot. Zappe has often been former New England QB Mac Jones' replacement over the last two seasons. The results have been mixed with him posting a 70.7% completion percentage in 2022, which then plummeted to 59.9% in 2023.

Milton is a cannon-armed rookie out of Tennessee. He's raw but has some intriguing tools as a developmental QB, which is why he was ultimately selected in the sixth round. Look for the Patriots to move on from Zappe while holding on to Milton as their developmental third QB.

3. The Miami Dolphins - Tua Tagovailoa and Mike White lead the charge

The depth chart: Tua Tagovailoa is the unquestioned starter while former NY Jets legend Mike White is firmly positioned in the No. 2 spot. Behind the top two is one of the most experienced No. 3 QBs in the league in Skylar Thompson.

The margin between the second-ranked and third-ranked teams is thin. In fact, an argument could be made for the Dolphins being higher on this list, given that Tagovailoa led the NFL in passing yards last season with 4,624. There's more to the story, however.

When evaluating these QB rooms, it's important to separate as much as possible the QB performance from their supporting cast. With Tagovailoa this is a little difficult.

Miami boasts one of the very best wide receiver duos in the league in Tyreek Hill and Jaylen Waddle. Hill might be the best receiver in the league at this point, and Waddle would be a No. 1 receiver on many other teams.

Those two speed merchants at receiver combined with a scheme that emphasizes YAC are a big reason why Tagovailoa led the league in passing yards. Per Pro Football Reference he was second in the league in YAC among QBs at 2177 yards while also being seventh in the league in YAC per completion at 5.7.

He also lead the league by a wide margin in passing yards on RPOs with 1,069. The next highest was Baltimore Ravens QB Lamar Jackson with 893, and no other QB had over 700.

RPOs are a product of the scheme and often are quick short passes designed to get the ball in the receiver's hands with the defense off-balance.

These types of plays are usually big YAC generators, and while it does take skill to quickly process the defense and make the right decision between run and pass, most of the production is actually generated by the receiver who is often schemed open. In short, once the right read is made the completion is a "gimme."

Tagovailoa's average depth of target ranked tied with 12th in the league, confirming that a lot of his passing yards were generated by his receivers and the scheme. Ball security and turnovers have also been an issue for him. In 2024 he posted 14 interceptions and fumbled 13 times.

Pro Football Focus had him with a turnover-worthy play percentage of 3.5%, which ranked tied for eighth highest in 2023. Turnovers, especially from the QB, can prove to be especially costly and can often ruin games.

The bottom line with Tagovailoa is that he is a great QB for his system, but his impact is inflated by his stellar supporting cast and his issues with ball security leave him on the outside looking in of upper-echelon NFL QBs.

As for White, he's a tough, gritty backup who can play well enough in spurts to win you a few games if pressed into action. He isn't the most mobile to make plays out of structure and can sometimes not make the right decision, but he can generally make enough plays within the structure of the offense and take care of the ball well enough to win some games.

Durability is also a concern with White. In 2021 he missed time with a wrist injury and in 2022 he missed multiple games with broken ribs. These concerns limit his efficacy as a backup and mean that at any given moment the third QB on the depth chart needs to be ready to go.

As for Skylar Thompson, he enters his third year with Miami. The 2022 seventh-round pick got significant playing time during the 2022 season. He played in seven games and attempted 105 passes with a ghastly 57.1% completion percentage.

Most third QBs are developmental types, and Thompson already has more experience than most. Miami hopes he can develop into a quality backup someday. Already 27 years old, we'll see if there's much more potential for growth, or if Thompson is essentially a finished product at this point.

2. The NY Jets are led by future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers, looking to return to form after injury

The depth chart: fans are rejoicing that QB Aaron Rodgers is back in the fold after years of ineptitude at the position. Tyrod Taylor joins the team as a veteran backup that was sorely lacking last season. And finally, 2024 sixth-round pick Jordan Travis will be the No. 3 QB in what should be a redshirt season.

Rodgers is an inner circle Hall of Famer. He would go on the Mount Rushmore of the best QBs of his generation alongside the likes of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Drew Brees. Just two seasons ago, he won his second NFL MVP award in as many years and fourth overall.

Normally, he'd comfortably sit atop this list and there would be no debate. The man is a legend, and his physical gifts combined with his intimate knowledge of the game have allowed him to have a long career of excellence.

There are two big looming questions, however, which need answering to fully understand where Rodgers should rank going forward.

First is his 2022 performance which saw his frustration with the Green Bay Packers come to a head following the team's decision to trade away his longtime No. 1 target, Davante Adams.

This was the cherry on top for Rodgers who had pleaded with the team for years to invest in more weapons but had never seen a wide receiver drafted in the first round in his lengthy career.

This led to a 2022 season which was well below the high bar that Rodgers had set throughout his career. His interceptions rose, posting 12 which was the first time he threw double-digit interceptions in over a decade. His yardage totals and touchdowns plummeted as he struggled to find chemistry with his young receiving corps while playing with a broken thumb.

Still, his 2022 season was an above-average performance and would have been among the Jets' best seasons all-time by a QB. He threw for 3695 yards, 26 touchdowns, and 12 interceptions, and completed 64.6% of his passes.

Those numbers compare favorably to former Jets quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick's 2015 season which saw him many team records with a performance of 3905 yards, 31 touchdowns, 15 interceptions, and a 59.6% completion percentage.

Upon being traded to New York, Rodgers appeared reinvigorated. He was a full participant in the offseason program for the first time in years. He wowed fans and media alike with his no-look passes while dropping dimes all over the field.

As expectations and excitement soared to new heights, Rodgers became the star of training camp as documented in HBO's Hard Knocks. The beleaguered fan base finally had some real hope in 2023 as the regular season rolled around.

Then the season opener rolled around. Under the bright lights of primetime against hated rival the Buffalo Bills the moment all Jets fans had been waiting for arrived. And in a blink of an eye in typical Jets fashion, all hope was extinguished. Just four plays in, Rodgers went down lying on the turf in agony.

A torn Achilles tendon grounded his season and the Jets' hopes before they had even taken off. All of this leads to the second, and perhaps most pressing question, how will the now 40-year-old QB look after a major injury who had already seen his performance decline?

This year, Rodgers again has been a full participant in the offseason program and again has turned heads with his incredible eye-popping throws. The ultimate competitor, Rodgers has never been one to back down from a challenge and often uses adversity as motivation.

He's been written off before and his performance has often seen an uptick afterward as he has developed a flair for silencing his critics. This 2024 season will be his biggest challenge yet, and if he can return to peak, or near peak form, he could easily vault the Jets QB room to the top of this list.

For now though, there's enough unanswered questions that can't justify the Jets rising any higher.

Somewhat under the radar, the room has also improved with the addition of Tyrod Taylor. Yes, the bar to clear for an upgrade over Zach Wilson was low, but Taylor has built a lengthy career as a high-quality backup.

Now almost 35 years old, Taylor no longer possesses the athleticism that made him a dual threat earlier in his career. However, he still has enough juice left to show some ability to escape pressure in the pocket and can make the occasional big play.

He's more than capable of playing well enough to win a few games should Rodgers miss time. The biggest concern with Taylor is his injury history. He's had several IR stints after being pressed into action which is concerning. Still, a healthy Taylor is one of the better backups in the league as the Jets have finally corrected that mistake.

Lastly, rookie Jordan Travis rounds out the depth chart as the developmental No. 3 QB. Travis suffered a serious leg injury last November. Even without the injury, 2024 would have been a redshirt year for Travis.

The former Florida State signal-caller led the Seminoles to an 11-0 record before his injury, and his athleticism and smarts make him an intriguing developmental QB. Arm strength and accuracy are concerns with Travis, and he lacks the ideal size for the position.

Travis won't be playing in 2024, or at least shouldn't. If he ends up taking the field that means something went very, very wrong.

1. The Buffalo Bills reign supreme lead by superstar QB Josh Allen

The depth chart: Josh Allen leads the way as one of the league's true superstars. Former first-round bust Mitchell Trubisky has now carved out a career as one of the league's better No. 2 QBs. Journeyman Shane Buechele rounds things out.

Allen is one of the most electrifying players in the league. At 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, he's built like a linebacker and is comfortable beating you with his cannon arm or with his legs. He moves like a much smaller player when on the run, and isn't afraid to lower his shoulder and make defenders pay.

Allen has proven to be elite at putting points on the board. Last season he threw for 29 touchdowns while adding 15 more on the ground. There might not be a QB in the league who is as uniquely gifted as he is.

While the Wyoming product came into the league as a raw prospect who struggled to harness his big arm and make accurate throws, he has since developed into a reliable passer, posting completion percentages of 63.3% or better each of the past four seasons.

As discussed with Tua Tagovailoa and the Dolphins, separating the QB from his supporting cast is important. For Allen, 2024 will be a real test as his top two wide receivers, Stefon Diggs and Gabe Davis, have left for greener pastures.

Diggs in particular is a big blow. The standout receiver has long been regarded as one of the best route runners and separators in the league. That's important for a player like Allen who, while making massive strides with his accuracy, doesn't possess pinpoint ball placement skills.

Whereas a quarterback like Aaron Rodgers can throw a covered receiver open, Allen needs some sort of window in order to avoid a turnover. It's no surprise that Diggs's arrival in 2020 coincided with Allen's dramatic improvement in completion percentage over the past four seasons.

Now, Allen will be tasked with replicating his performance with a young and unproven receiving corps. 2024 second-round pick Keon Coleman will be thrust into the No. 1 wide receiver role, while veteran Curtis Samuel, and 2022 fifth-round pick Khalil Shakir round out the top three receivers.

Shakir did produce a hot streak to end 2023 posting 31 of his 39 total catches and 536 of his 611 receiving yards from week 8 on. The Bills also have a formidable tight end duo in Dalton Kincaid and Dawson Knox, both of whom could start for many teams in the league, while James Cook has proven to be a receiving threat out of the backfield.

Allen will severely miss one of the game's best receivers in Diggs and one of the league's best deep threats in Davis. Still, Allen is what a mad scientist would create in a lab at the QB position. His rocket arm, speed, size, strength, and ability to make plays outside of structure are all skills that the modern NFL covets.

Allen is not without his faults. He's posted double-digit interceptions five out of his six years in the league, including a career-high 18 last season. In addition, he fumbled seven times last year. Opportunistic defenses can take advantage of his aggressiveness and use it against him.

As for Trubisky, the failed starter has emerged as one of the league's better backups. In Buffalo, his skillset mirrors that of Allen's though on a much more limited scale. He has the athleticism to make plays with his legs and extend plays outside of the pocket while possessing the requisite arm strength to make all the throws.

Like Allen, he also has a penchant for turnovers, but unlike him, he hasn't proven dynamic enough to overcome that fatal flaw. The good news for Bills fans is an injury to Allen wouldn't require a scheme adjustment to suit the backup. For a short-term injury, Trubisky is capable of holding down the fort.

Longer term, Trubisky gets exposed which is why he's now embracing his new role as a journeyman backup.

The Bills, unlike the other three teams in the AFC East, don't have a true developmental third quarterback. No. 3 QB Shane Buechele is a 26-year-old who has never appeared in an NFL game. He's more or less a camp body that might have a shot at the practice squad.

The quarterback landscape of the AFC East is fascinating. All four teams have some questions about their presumed starters but have also invested in high-quality backups. One through three in these rankings could look very different by year's end.

Should Rodgers return to 2021 form, he'd easily vault the Jets to the number one position. If Allen can improve upon his turnover-prone nature he could solidify the Bills as the number one team. Even Tagovailoa could vault Miami upwards if he can limit his turnovers and continue to grow within his scheme.

Lastly, if Drake Maye sets the world on fire as a rookie these rankings could look very different by season's end. It will be interesting to look back on this at the end of the season and match the actual performance to these early power rankings and see how what we know about these players has changed.