Way-too-early 2027 mock draft has good and bad news for New York Jets originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
The 2026 NFL Draft is now behind us, and it's easy to be impressed with what the New York Jets were able to do.
The team added edge-rusher David Bailey, tight end Kenyon Sadiq, and wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. all in the first round. Bailey should be able to transform the pass rush, while Cooper and Sadiq are solid targets for, presumably, Geno Smith.
Don't get me wrong, nobody expects the Jets to contend in 2026. However, several of their games were very close in 2025, so it's not unrealistic to expect several more wins. At least, if you want to be optimistic.
However, Cooper Petagna of CBS Sports recently unveiled his way-too-early 2027 mock draft, and it has good and bad news for the Jets. The bad news is, Petagna has the Jets landing the No. 1 pick, which means 2025 is going to be rough.
The good news, though, is that Petagna has the team landing prized quarterback Arch Manning with that No. 1 pick. Manning's college career has been underwhelming to this point, but one more year in college could catapult Manning into an elite category ahead of the 2027 draft.
Regarding this pick, Petagna offered the following:
After a turbulent start to his first full season as a starter, Manning helped guide Texas to a 4-1 finish, including three wins over ranked opponents, while flashing athleticism as a runner that adds another layer to his profile. Despite the last name and pedigree as 247Sports' No. 1 recruit in 2023, Manning needs to sustain that late-season momentum to separate from a crowded field and ultimately come off the board at the top of next year's NFL Draft.
As Petagna mentioned, Manning needs to maintain the momentum he picked up at the end of 2025, and if he does that, it would not be a surprise to see him as the top pick next year.
The Jets, perhaps more than any other NFL team, desperately need a quarterback. The Justin Fields experiment failed, and the team apparently felt reuniting with Smith, who failed in his first tenure with the team, was its best option for 2026.
Smith played terribly for much of the 2025 season with the Las Vegas Raiders, but he also didn't have much help. Perhaps the Jets feel like, with an improved group of weapons, Smith can regain the form he had with the Seattle Seahawks.
Or, perhaps more likely, the team expects Smith to struggle again, and as a result, they will land the top pick. Even if Smith DOES perform in 2026, he's obviously not the long-term fix. Landing a player like Manning would not only help the Jets on the field, but it would inject some life into a long-suffering fanbase.
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