This Jets-Giants trade will ensure Fernando Mendoza comes to New York

The New York Jets are brazenly tanking to ensure a top pick in the 2026 NFL Draft, as Aaron Glenn and Darren Mougey seem willing to punt on the end of the 2025 season if it means they can land a player like Indiana's Fernando Mendoza or Oregon's Dante Moore for the future.

However, due to how incompetent some of the dregs of the league have been this season, there's a good chance that New York will need to trade up if they want one of those players. That's where the New York Giants, owners of the No. 1 pick at the time of writing, come in.

If the Jets offer their local NFC foes a package of draft picks that can help Big Blue rebuild with their new coach, there's a chance the Jets can leapfrog the competition and take a quarterback that can turn this franchise around instantly.

This Jets-Giants trade will ensure Fernando Mendoza comes to New York

The Jets have five first-round picks in the next two years that they can trade thanks to the Sauce Gardner and Quinnen Williams deals. However, with 2027 widely regarded as the superior class, Mougey will likely try to hold onto his three first-round selections in that class.

With the Jets currently projected to have the fourth-most cap space in the NFL, Mougey might be able to preemptively plug their holes by writing some big checks in the offseason. If they manage to plug those holes with some new additions outside of quarterback, it suddenly becomes less important to stockpile assets.

The Giants, meanwhile, would get multiple top picks they can use to get Jaxson Dart another top wide receiver and fix a secondary that has quickly become one of the worst in the league. Would John Mara be willing to make a trade with his local rival that lands them a franchise quarterback?

Jets fans had better hope the Giants lose to the 2-13 Las Vegas Raiders in their Week 17 'Tank Bowl.' The nightmare scenario for Jets fans would likely be coming in No. 3 in the NFL Draft order, but being unable to trade up with the quarterback-needy Raiders or Cleveland Browns ahead of them.

The Jets will need some fortuitous bounces to go their way if they want either Mendoza or Moore, but the Gardner and Williams trades gave them a stockpile of assets that outshines every other team in the NFL.