Top 10 Jets quarterbacks of all time
Jets quarterbacks, clockwise from left: Joe Namath, Aaron Rodgers, Boomer Esiason, Chad Pennington and Vinny Testaverde.
In what may be one of the least suspenseful top 10 lists of all time – gee, who will number one be? – here is a ranking of the best quarterbacks in Jets history. It illustrates just how bleak the position has generally been for the franchise but also how many big names with otherwise prominent resumes have come here in an effort to match the king and wound up failing for any number of reasons.
10. Boomer Esiason
The East Islip product who had won an MVP Award and reached a Super Bowl during his tenure with the Bengals was traded to the Jets in 1993. In three tumultuous seasons here (he played under three different head coaches), Esiason was the one stabilizing presence. He won just 15 of his 42 starts for the Jets but ranks seventh all-time in passing yards and touchdown passes and in 1993 was one of just six Jets quarterbacks ever named a Pro Bowler.
9. Ryan Fitzpatrick
In 2015 – a year in which he was slated to begin as a backup before Geno Smith had his jaw broken in a preseason locker room incident – Fitzpatrick set a team record that still stands with 31 touchdown passes and only Joe Namath ever had more passing yards than his 3,905 that season. He came back in 2016 but the FitzMagic was gone by then. His 13 wins as a starter are tied for the eight most in Jets history.
8. Brett Favre
He spent one year with the Jets and were it not for a biceps injury that hampered his throwing down the stretch likely would have led the team to the playoffs in 2008. Instead they finished 9-7 and Favre re-retired… although he did come back for two more playoff-reaching seasons with the Vikings afterward. His one campaign in New York included 22 passing touchdowns (20 through the first 11 games as the Jets were 8-3 before his injury) but also 22 interceptions (with 9 in the last five games post-injury).
7. Richard Todd
He threw more interceptions than touchdowns and was often booed by Jets fans, but Todd does rank third all-time in passing yards, touchdown passes and wins. In 1981 Todd (and the Sack Exchange defense) led the Jets to their first winning record since 1969. They went back to the postseason the following year and won two playoff games but Todd threw five interceptions in a soggy 14-0 AFC Championship Game loss to the Dolphins in Miami.
6. Aaron Rodgers
The future Hall of Famer never fulfilled his promises of changing the Jets’ culture or adding to their “lonely” trophy case, and he’ll mostly be remembered for missing almost the entire 2023 season with a torn Achilles suffered just four plays into a promising season. But Rodgers did put together one of the top seasons in franchise history in 2024 when he had the third-most passing yards (3,897) and touchdown passes (28) in team history in that campaign that saw just five wins.
5. Chad Pennington
Pennington has more passing yards and touchdown passes than any other Jet since the turn of the century and he ranks fourth all-time in both categories. In eight seasons with the Jets he went to the playoffs three times, twice winning wild card games.
4. Vinny Testaverde
The Elmont Kid from Sewanhaka High School was already a 35-year-old proven pro when he returned home to lead the Jets’ turnaround in 1998. They went 12-1 that season and made it to the AFC Championship. His Achilles injury in the 1999 opener derailed things but in seven seasons with the Jets he won 35 of his 61 starts. That is the most wins of any Jets quarterback with a winning record and fourth most all-time.
3. Mark Sanchez
Things spiraled quickly for Sanchez as a quarterback (the Butt Fumble was a turning point) and in his personal life (he currently faces felony battery charges for an incident in which he was stabbed and hospitalized in October 2025), but for a while he was on a trajectory to become the franchise quarterback for which the Jets have always been searching. He brought the team to the AFC Championship in each of his first two seasons in the league and had a career-high 26 touchdowns for them in the third. His four postseason wins – all on the road, all in that two-year span – are the most in team history.
2. Ken O’Brien
So much is made about who the Jets could have had instead of O’Brien (two Hall of Famers, Dan Marino and Darryll Green, were taken shortly after the Jets picked O’Brien in the 1983 draft) that his successes are overshadowed. He was a two-time Pro Bowler, led the NFL in passer rating in 1985, and took the Jets to the postseason three times. He is second only to Joe Namath in passing yards and touchdown passes among Jets and did it while throwing 120 fewer interceptions than Namath did!
1. Joe Namath
The Jets don’t have a Mount Rushmore of four top quarterbacks, they have a Washington Monument of one. He was a very good quarterback but his impact on the culture is more significant. Namath redefined what it meant to be a star athlete in the 20th Century and guaranteeing a win in Super Bowl III – then following through on that promise – didn’t just give the Jets a title, it changed the course of the NFL.
Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.
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