The New York Jets are in the market for a quarterback this offseason and a new report suggests general manager Darren Mougey has his eye on two veteran backups as possible solutions.
According to Essentially Sports’ Tony Pauline, Mougey has his eye on Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Tanner McKee and Houston Texans signal-caller Davis Mills.
“Much of the narrative outside the league has centered around the team potentially making a trade for Kyler Murray,” he reported. “Yet people in the league tell me if general manager Darren Mougey gets his way, the Jets will look to bring in a less-expensive signal caller, and two names keep entering the conversation: Tanner McKee and Davis Mills.”
The Jets find themselves in a tough spot this offseason after the Justin Fields experiment failed miserably last season.
New York would almost certainly prefer to draft a quarterback, but this year’s class is very weak at the position and the Jets are better off waiting until 2027 to spend a high draft pick on a signal-caller.
That means the Jets need a bridge quarterback, but Mougey and head coach Aaron Glenn also need someone who can actually win games or else their seats might be scorching hot after this coming campaign.
McKee is far from a proven commodity.
He has garnered some hype thanks to some impressive preseason showings, and he has shown flashes in the regular season in limited opportunities (both of his starts have come in Week 18 games), but he has still thrown just 88 career passes.
Mills is the more experienced option of the two with 44 games and 29 career starts, but he hasn’t been a full-time starter since 2022.
He did start in three games for Houston in place of an injured C.J. Stroud in 2025 and actually played pretty well for the most part over his six games in total.
Mills completed 57.2% of his passes for 915 yards and five touchdowns to one interception while going 3-0 in his three starts.
Mills amounts to the safer bet when it comes to which quarterback gives the Jets a better chance to win, but with the jury still being out on McKee, and with him being two years younger, he offers more potential long-term upside.
All that said, we believe McKee is much more likely to be traded, as the Texans are probably keen on keeping Mills given the struggles we’ve seen out of Stroud in the past few seasons.
If the price is right (a fifth-round pick or later), it makes sense for the Jets to take a swing on McKee, but they should not stop there and must bring in some veteran competition for the unproven former sixth-round pick.
