Jets to sign former Giants backup QB to deal

Maligned for their quarterback plan behind Aaron Rodgers last year, the Jets will bring in a veteran QB2 in Taylor. The journeyman arm will slide in behind Rodgers, with the Jets on track to part ways with Zach Wilson soon. This will be Taylor’s seventh NFL team.

Not seeing much action in his first season with the Giants, Taylor became needed early in 2023. Daniel Jones battled a neck injury before going down with a torn ACL. 

While Tommy DeVito enjoyed a memorable stretch in relief of Jones — as Taylor sat healthy behind the rookie UDFA — the older backup closed the Giants’ season back under center. 

The Jets will hope Taylor does not have similar involvement in their 2024 season — as that could well mean a regime change — but they have one of the game’s most experienced QB2s ready to go in the event Rodgers suffers another injury.

Taylor, 34, is coming off a season in which a rib injury required hospitalization. This reminded of the lung puncture that ended his brief run as Chargers starter in 2020. The 2023 injury led to DeVito’s debut. 

Taylor later expressed disappointment he did not get the call upon returning from IR. But Brian Daboll moved him back into action on Christmas; the veteran ignited the Giants’ offense and started the final two games. For his career, Taylor now has 58 starts; he is 28-28-1 in those games.

The Ravens, Bills, Browns, Chargers, Texans, Giants and now Jets have employed the former sixth-round pick, who impressed a points during his previous AFC East cameo — a three-year starter stay in Buffalo. 

At a different point in his career, Taylor will come off the market and give the Jets better insurance — after Woody Johnson went so far as to say the 2023 team lacked a backup quarterback. 

Wilson remains on the Jets’ roster, but be it via trade or release, the former No. 2 overall pick will be gone soon.