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Rich Cimini, ESPN Staff Writer
CLEVELAND — Fifteen years ago, the New York Jets introduced Brett Favre before a preseason game at a cramped news conference in the bowels of Cleveland Browns Stadium. There wasn’t much pomp, but the circumstances were profound. An overnight trade had brought their quarterback savior.
The Jets are back in Cleveland on Thursday night, this time with a new savior. Like Favre, Aaron Rodgers won’t suit up for the Jets game against the Browns (8:15 p.m. ET, Prime Video). He can’t play because of an injury, but his presence provides hope for better days. Favre evoked the same feelings in 2008, but he fell short of expectations because of a torn tendon (biceps) that hampered his play. Result: no playoffs.
Rodgers, too, suffered a torn tendon (Achilles) and no playoffs.
Rodgers will return in 2024, but the juxtaposition of him and Favre — two Green Bay Packers legends — shines a light on the Jets and their perpetual search for quarterback happiness. Cleveland — aka the Factory of Sadness — is the perfect backdrop and the perfect opponent.
The Browns have cycled through more quarterbacks than the Jets over the years, and — wouldn’t you know it? — they’re on the verge of making the playoffs with one of the Jets’ castoffs. Joe Flacco, 38, the Browns’ fourth starter this season, is being hailed as an off-the-couch, into-the-huddle legend. He was available when Rodgers was hurt in Week 1, but the Jets thought they had it covered with Zach Wilson.
When it comes to the Jets and quarterbacks, it’s always what if? What if they hadn’t passed on Dan Marino in the 1983 draft? What if their plan to draft Favre (yeah, him again) hadn’t unraveled at the last second in 1991? What if Peyton Manning had turned pro prior to the 1997 draft, when the Jets had the No. 1 overall pick? What if Josh Allen had a better completion percentage in 2018?
These moments have haunted the Jets over the years, increasing the weight of their historical baggage (55 seasons without a Super Bowl) and producing unanswered questions and mysteries that exist to this day.
AT THE 1983 draft, NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle announced the Jets’ first pick with a dramatic pause.
“The Jets take, as a first-round selection, quarterback …”
The crowd wanted Marino, the gifted and popular passer out of Pitt.
“…Ken O’Brien, of California-Davis.”
The crowd groaned. It was a “wtf” moment before anyone knew what “wtf” meant. O’Brien enjoyed a fine career with the Jets, throwing for more than 25,000 yards, but he wasn’t Marino.
In evaluating the celebrated quarterback Class of ’83 — six were chosen in Round 1, including eventual Hall of Famers John Elway, Jim Kelly and Marino — the Jets fell in love with O’Brien because of his arm talent and smarts (his IQ was reportedly greater than 130).
The main concern with Marino, who scored a 16 on his Wonderlic test (average score is 24), was whether he’d be able to absorb coach Joe Walton’s complex offense. But as a source involved in the Jets’ draft that year said, “His Wonderlic was low, but he was Einstein behind center.”
With the 24th pick, and with Elway, Todd Blackledge, Kelly and Tony Eason already gone, the Jets took O’Brien and left Marino for the Miami Dolphins at 27. Former Jets personnel director Mike Hickey, recalling the decision in an interview with ESPN, said a pivotal moment occurred when the quarterback-needy Pittsburgh Steelers passed on Marino at 21, opting for defensive tackle Gabe Rivera. That resonated with Hickey, who found it concerning that Marino — a high-school and college legend in Pittsburgh — was spurned by his hometown team. That, Hickey said, “eliminated” Marino from consideration.
The Jets’ choice came down to O’Brien or cornerback Darrell Green, who went on to a Hall of Fame career with Washington. If the defensive-minded Walt Michaels hadn’t been replaced that offseason by Walton, the Jets would’ve picked Green over O’Brien, Hickey revealed. Forty years later, Hickey said he’s comfortable with the decision even though fans will always wonder what might have been with Marino.
“I can go to my grave not worrying about it,” he said. “To me, it was like, ‘Hey, if [the Steelers] didn’t want him, we sure as hell don’t want him. They’ve got the rings. We don’t.'”
And, of course, Marino went on to torment the Jets (and the entire league) for the better part of 15 years.
LOOKING TO REPLACE O’Brien in the 1991 draft, Jets general manager Dick Steinberg made Favre the No. 1 player on his draft board, higher than other teams had rated him. Steinberg and his right-hand man, personnel director Ron Wolf, scouted Favre at an all-star game and concluded, “This is the best player in the draft,” Wolf told ESPN several years ago.
One problem: The Jets didn’t own a first-round pick, having used it in the previous summer’s supplemental draft on wide receiver Rob Moore.
When Favre slipped to the second round, the Jets tried frantically to trade up from the 34th pick. Steinberg thought he had a deal worked out with the Phoenix Cardinals at 32, but it fell apart at the last minute. Steinberg went into a side room to finalize the deal. When he returned, it was off, Wolf recalled.
The Cardinals apparently didn’t want to risk losing defensive end Mike Jones, whom they selected at 32. Favre wound up with the Atlanta Falcons at 33 and the Jets picked quarterback Browning Nagle, who had one terrible season as their starter and faded away.
Steinberg based the selection on a strong recommendation by Nagle’s coach at Louisville, Howard Schnellenberger, who had coached Jim Kelly at the University of Miami. “He convinced Steinberg that [Nagle] was the next Jim Kelly,” a source close to the Jets’ 1991 draft recalled. “We were like, ‘What?'”
Why didn’t Steinberg try harder to trade up for a player he coveted so much? People involved in the process never got a concrete answer from the tight-lipped Steinberg, who died in 1995. It worked out nicely for Wolf, who became the Green Bay Packers GM in 1992 and traded for Favre, who blossomed into a Hall of Famer.
“Fortunately for me and unfortunately for the Jets, when Dick called Arizona to finish the deal, they backed out because a player they wanted was still there,” Wolf said.
Many years later, Favre finally got to the Jets. He was 38 and graying when they unveiled him that night in Cleveland.
BILL PARCELLS AND Peyton Manning could’ve been one of the great power couples in the NFL. In February 1997, the Jets hired Parcells, who inherited the No. 1 overall pick. He probably would’ve used that choice on Manning, but the star-crossed franchise never got a chance because the quarterback decided to return to Tennessee for his senior year.
The everlasting question: Why didn’t Parcells try to convince Manning to enter the draft?
“Thanks, Bill Parcells, for nothing,” former Jets quarterback Boomer Esiason says now.
To this day, Parcells, citing tampering rules for underclassmen at the time, said he wasn’t permitted to speak directly to Manning. His father, Archie Manning, called Parcells twice before the decision, trying to get a feel for the team’s thinking. He didn’t get much out of Parcells.
“I kind of laugh when people say I should’ve talked him into it,” Parcells once told ESPN. “I wasn’t capable of doing that.”
Why didn’t he attempt to recruit Manning through Archie?
“I think they had a pretty good idea of what would’ve happened if they came out,” said Parcells, who wound up trading down twice and selecting linebacker James Farrior.
Over the years, Peyton has echoed what he said at his on-campus news conference after his announcement in 1997, claiming Parcells’ arrival made it a harder decision. He insisted at the time, “I had no negative thoughts about the Jets whatsoever.”
He’d have a hard time convincing Jets fans. Not only does he crack occasional jokes about the Jets on TV shows, but Manning is the person responsible for Adam Gase, many fans believe. Ownership hired Gase as coach, in large part, because of Manning’s recommendation in 2019. Gase was fired after only two seasons and has yet to land another coaching job.
The Jets expressed interest in Manning when he became a free agent in 2012. Once again, he said no.
THERE HAVE BEEN other what-if moments over the years.
During the 2000 draft, Midwest scout Jesse Kaye encouraged Parcells to draft a skinny, slow-footed quarterback from Michigan named Tom Brady. It never got to the point where Brady was under serious consideration, a source in the room said, but Kaye did sing Brady’s praises, enough to catch the attention of many in the room. The Jets already had three quarterbacks on the roster, including first-round pick Chad Pennington. They didn’t need another arm. History tells us it wouldn’t have been a bad choice.
In 2018, the Jets were committed to drafting a quarterback, but they passed on Josh Allen because they had questions about his accuracy in college. (He was a 56% passer at Wyoming.) They rated Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield and Josh Rosen ahead of Allen, a front office source said, opting for Darnold with the No. 3 pick. Allen went to the Buffalo Bills at No. 7 and is now a perennial MVP candidate.
Three years later, the Jets took another quarterback plunge, using the No. 2 overall pick on Zach Wilson. It hasn’t worked out, and now Wilson — sidelined Thursday night with a concussion — is likely to be traded in the offseason.
Round and round it goes. The Jets have started four different quarterbacks this season for the first time since 1989, including current starter Trevor Siemian. It brings their total to 21 starters since 1999, which sounds like a lot, but pales in comparison to the Browns. For them, it’s a league-high 36 starters since 1999, the year they returned to the NFL.
“Let’s face it, it’s been a very unstable organization,” Esiason said of the Jets, noting he played for three different coaches in three years (1993-1995). “Quarterbacks, coaches, everything.”
Which leads us to this moment: A success-starved franchise, playing out a lost season and counting on a 40-year-old legend to recapture his past glory and save them in 2024.