NFL insider discusses if Jets could make QB Jaxson Dart first-round draft pick

Multiple insiders have suggested since the conclusion of the NFL Scouting Combine that the New York Jets could make Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart the seventh overall pick of the 2025 draft.

For a mailbag published on Wednesday, NFL insider Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated addressed rumors linking Dart with the Jets. 

"At this point," Breer wrote, "the top 10 still seems really rich for Jaxson Dart to me. And I’d be surprised if the New York Jets took a quarterback in the first round, in part because of the negotiation and contract they went through and did with Justin Fields. Now, if we’re saying they’d consider Dart at the top of the second round, I think that sounds plausible."

While the Jets signed Fields to a two-year, $40M deal with $30M guaranteed, they could easily afford to bench him in favor of veteran backup and locker-room favorite Tyrod Taylor. Meanwhile, Dart's final draft stock could be impacted when Colorado's Shedeur Sanders comes off the board. 

Miami's Cam Ward, the consensus top quarterback in this year's draft class, is expected to be the first pick. The Cleveland Browns could grab Sanders at No. 2, but it's possible both the Browns and New York Giants (No. 3) may address other positions with their high-value draft assets. 

It's unclear how far Sanders may slide if the Browns and Giants go in different directions. The Las Vegas Raiders could take a flier on a quarterback at pick No. 6 or trade that selection to a different club. Sports Illustrated's Conor Orr believes Sanders could fall to the Jets. 

Former NFL general manager and current ESPN personality Mike Tannenbaum thinks the Los Angeles Rams could take Dart at pick No. 26.

Also on Wednesday, NFL Draft analyst Dane Brugler of The Athletic mentioned that Dart "needs time to develop his progression-based reads and anticipation (things he wasn’t asked to do in college regularly)" but is "a natural thrower of the football with promising mobility and high-level competitive intangibles." 

Perhaps the recently hired Jets regime will decide that having either Sanders or Dart develop as a backup behind Fields is worth making one of the to-be rookie signal-callers a top-seven pick on April 24.