Power ranking all 32 NFL starting quarterbacks

31. Josh McCown, New York Jets

It’s very possible that McCown is the third best quarterback on the Jets’ current roster. Both Teddy Bridgewater and Sam Darnold have more talent, but that doesn’t mean they will start the season when Week 1 arrives. McCown is the frontrunner at the moment, so he’s the guy we will evaluate here.

In fairness to McCown, he played pretty well as the Jets’ starter in 2017. Throwing for just under 3,000 yards while completing 67.3% of your passes in this offense is a pretty significant accomplishment. The Jets would likely be content to start McCown again this season if they knew he could duplicate those numbers.

Unfortunately for Todd Bowles and company, that’s pretty unlikely. McCown just doesn’t have that much arm talent. He’s very unlikely to come anywhere close to last season’s level of play in his age 40 season. The most likely outcome for McCown this season would be a solidly below average campaign.

It’s his lack of upside that places him so far down this list. There’s just no chance that McCown can play any better than he has previously in his career. There’s a reason he’s largely been a journeyman. He’s good enough to keep an offense afloat, but he can’t elevate a group of players. Like McCarron, the best he can hope for is to start a few games until the Jets’ quarterback of the future comes of age.