Stop me if you’ve heard this before: the New York Jets are set to have a new starting quarterback this season.
The team ended the Aaron Rodgers experiment after two unsuccessful seasons and brought in Justin Fields in free agency. Fields is a former first-round pick who has yet to live up to his billing, but the Jets are hoping to unlock something in the young passer.
Fields was brought in on a two-year, $40 million deal, which isn’t a prohibitive deal in the modern NFL, especially for a quarterback.
If Fields struggles in 2025, it’s reasonable to predict that the team will select a passer in a 2026 draft class that’s expected to be loaded.
Sayre Bedinger of NFL Spin Zone recently released a 2026 mock draft. In that mock, Bedinger has the Jets landing the No. 5 pick and selecting Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza.
Mendoza spent the previous two seasons at California before transferring to Indiana this offseason. The Hoosiers had a strong offense in 2024, so Mendoza should be able to thrive in the system and potentially make himself a top-5 pick.
The New York Jets were rumored to be in the market for quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft, but I think they wisely passed and decided to invest in the offensive line with the Armand Membou selection. The Jets have one year to see what they’ve got in Justin Fields, but if they’ve got a top-five pick next year, it likely means things went poorly for Fields. And if that’s the case, they’re going to need to target a QB with this pick. Fernando Mendoza is quickly rising up everyone’s draft boards these days and with a big year at Indiana, he could contend for the #1 overall pick.
Key X-factor for this season: Establishing a physical culture under Aaron Glenn. Allow a QB to step right into the offense and have success.
If the Jets end up with a top-five pick again, it can be assumed that Fields did not have a good season. Because of the talented rookie class and Fields’ short contract, don’t expect the team to give the quarterback the longest leash.
In 2024, Mendoza played in 11 games and threw for 3,004 yards and 16 touchdowns to six interceptions. The quarterback completed 68.7% of his passes and earned a respectable 144.6 passer rating.
Mendoza has prototypical quarterback size, standing at 6-foot-5 and weighing around 225 pounds. Even with that frame, Mendoza isn’t a complete statue, as he rushed for 105 yards and two scores last season. The quarterback has elite accuracy and a strong enough arm to hit his receivers down the field.
If Mendoza has a big year for Indiana, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him rise to the top of the quarterback rankings for the 2026 draft.
