CBS Sports buries the Jets' quarterback room in a brutal ranking

The New York Jets have spent what feels like the better part of two decades trying to solve football’s most frustrating equation. The quarterback position is the most important in football, if not in all of sports.

Few teams have missed as often as the team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey

Some attempts have inspired hope. Others inspired immediate regret. A few managed to accomplish both simultaneously. Then, to make matters worse, Gang Green had to watch Sam Darnold become one of three former Jets to win a Super Bowl as part of the Seattle Seahawks.

Apparently, CBS Sports isn’t convinced this latest experiment will look much different or lead to different results. In a recent ranking of the NFL’s 10 worst quarterback rooms entering the 2026 season, Garrett Podell credited the Jets with having the second-worst. Only the Cleveland Browns were seen as being worse.

That’s the kind of ranking capable of making Jets fans either laugh bitterly or immediately close the browser tab. Honestly, the logic feels… selective. No one is pretending the Jets suddenly boast one of football’s premier quarterback situations. That would be ridiculous, but can it be argued that ranking them as the league’s second-worst room feels like an evaluation built more around Geno Smith’s worst moments than the broader picture?

Yes, Smith’s 2025 season with the Las Vegas Raiders was ugly. He led the league in both interceptions and sacks taken, and that isn't exactly the resume bullet point that quarterbacks frame and hang on a trophy wall, but context matters and must be weighed. The Jets didn’t acquire a random reclamation project with no proven success.