The New York Jets’ 2025 season was a train wreck. Three quarterbacks, Justin Fields, Tyrod Taylor, and Brady Cook, couldn’t save them from a 3-14 finish. While that left Aaron Glenn’s first season as a head coach in tatters, he isn’t waving the white flag yet. Instead, he’s bringing in a familiar face who once lit up Foxborough and tried to make a mark with the Kansas City Chiefs: Bailey Zappe.

According to NFL insider Tom Pelissero, Zappe has signed a futures deal with the Jets. It’s a depth move, sure, but it signals something bigger. Glenn plans to rebuild piece by piece, starting with a star who’s been bouncing around practice squads like a pinball.

The thing about Zappe is, he was actually quite decent with the New England Patriots. A fourth-round pick in 2022, he started 14 games for the Patriots and threw 11 touchdowns. Not spectacular, but not a disaster either. The Pats cut him in 2024, and his career went sideways.

Zappe spent 2024 with Kansas City’s practice squad, got signed by the Cleveland Browns mid-season, and started their final game against the Baltimore Ravens. In 2025, he was back in Chiefs camp but got waived before the season started. He landed on Cleveland’s practice squad again, watching rookies Dillon Gabriel and Shedeur Sanders play ahead of him.

Now Aaron Glenn is giving him another shot. After bouncing around so much, the 26-year-old quarterback probably has the last chance to land somewhere. Futures deals are non-guaranteed, so there’s no risk to New York. But Glenn needs bodies, and Zappe knows the league.

The Jets already have Fields and Cook under contract for 2026. That’s not exactly a confidence-inspiring duo. Adding Zappe gives them three options heading into another offseason centered around fixing everything that went wrong. Not ideal, but it beats running it back with the same mess that tanked their 2025 season.

But here’s where it gets interesting. Zappe’s just a Band-Aid; Fields and Cook have proven to be unreliable. The real question ahead of Aaron Glenn: what’s the long-term play at quarterback?

The Dante Moore dilemma for Aaron Glenn

For a while, it looked like Aaron Glenn could target Oregon’s Dante Moore in the 2026 draft for an immediate fix to his quarterback problem. But then ESPN’s Rich Cimini dropped a warning they can’t ignore.

“He is only 20 years old, he has got only 18 college starts, and if you look at the recent first-round quarterbacks with fewer than 20 starts – it is not a promising field,” Cimini said on the ‘Flight Deck.’

Cimini then rattled off names like Anthony Richardson, Trey Lance, Mac Jones, Mitch Trubisky, and more; all first-rounders with fewer than 20 starts. “The only star of that group is Cam Newton,” Cimini explained. “The rest of them [were] either busts or underachievers.”

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NFL draft expert Mel Kiper also offered a similar take. “You’re drafting him based on traits and talent. You can’t have him thrown to the wolves,” Kiper noted. He stressed that Moore needs time to develop, and Aaron Glenn & Co. need a bridge quarterback to handle 2026 while Moore sits. “It’s not about 2026,” Kiper concluded. “It’s about ‘27 moving forward, then you take him.”

The Jets are not at a crossroads. Aaron Glenn survived one disastrous season, but he might not get another. Bailey Zappe provides immediate depth. But Dante Moore represents the future if they draft him and refrain from rushing him. After a 3-14 season, that patience might be a gamble. But for Glenn, so is everything else.