2017 NFL Draft: Visits indicate Jets could spend another high pick on a QB

The Jets have spent fourth-round and second-round picks on passers the last two years

It has been quite some time since the New York Jets had a viable "quarterback of the future." There was a brief period of time where it looked like Mark Sanchez might be that guy, but that situation quickly sputtered out of control after a few years of team success despite average-ish quarterback play. 

The Jets have cycled through a bunch of different players since that point, with most of the starts going to Geno Smith and then Ryan Fitzpatrick, who snatched Smith's job away after Smith was punched in the face by a teammate. Knowing neither player was the "answer" over the long-term, the Jets still selected a quarterback in each of the last two drafts. 

There was Bryce Petty in the fourth round of the 2015 draft, and Christian Hackenberg in the second round of the 2016 draft. Of the two, only Petty (who famously learned how to read defensive fronts by playing 'Madden' last offseason) got on the field, and the results weren't pretty: 56.4 percent completion rate, 6.1 yards per attempt, three touchdowns and seven picks. Hackenberg was inactive all season. 

And so, it should not come as a surprise that the Jets are once again sticking their feet into the quarterback market. 

North Carolina's Mitchell Trubisky is set to visit the team's Florham Park, N.J. facilities on Thursday, per ESPN.com. He's the last of the top four quarterback prospects to meet with the team, as Texas Tech's Patrick Mahomes II already visited earlier in the week, and the Jets held private workouts with Notre Dame's DeShone Kizer and Clemson's Deshaun Watson earlier in the draft process.

The Jets could pick a quarterback as early as No. 6 overall, but given the holes elsewhere on their roster, they might hold off until the later rounds. With Petty, Hackenberg, and stop-gap starter Josh McCown on the roster, it's also possible they could even hold off until next year, when the quarterback class is expected to be stronger. Doing due diligence is part of the job, after all, and bringing in quarterbacks for visits and workouts isn't necessarily indicative of definitely drafting one.