Quarterbacks, quarterbacks. GM Darren Mougey, HC Aaron Glenn and the Jets are exhausting all their options at the position in the market to repopulate their QBs room, and the draft will provide them an opportunity to add a candidate.

But what about free agency? The legal negotiating period begins Monday, March 9, and the free agency signing period kicks off two days later. A number of bridge starters/backups will be testing the waters, looking not only for decent money but a new chance to show they're still made of NFL starting timber, and some other QBs may be available in trade.

Who might the Jets want? Here's a short list of candidates they may be studying this week. (Our free agency review of non-QB offensive payers will be posted Thursday.

Malik Willis — Willis' track record is spare, with six starts and three wins in four seasons as a backup, the first two with Tennessee, the last two with Green Bay. But he's productive (98.9 career passer rating), mobile (5.5 yards/carry) and will try to parlay his potential into a prodigious payday. The Jets will inquire, but will they be interested in paying a similar contract to Willis as they did for Justin Fields, with Willis having far less experience as a fifth-year QB than Fields did a year ago?

Jimmy Garoppolo — Jimmy G was San Fran's Super Bowl QB after the 2019 season, then helped the 49ers to the NFC title game two years later. Next, he moved to the Raiders and the Rams, backing up Matt Stafford but starting only one game, in 2024, and throwing no passes in '25. His 43-21 record and 97.6 rating as an NFL starter may be irrelevant now as he starts his 13th NFL season, and it's hard to say how good a young-QB mentor he'd be. But the Illinoisan through his college years may want a chance to at least compete for more playtime and break out of his West Coast mode back East, where he began his career as New England's second-round pick in '14.

Marcus Mariota — Mariota started out strong with Tennessee before hitting the road for short stints with several other teams — Las Vegas, Atlanta, Philadelphia and, for the past two seasons, mentoring Jayden Daniels with Washington. He started his one season with the Falcons and filled in for eight games for the injured Daniels last season, but otherwise over the past six seasons has been a backup. Does he still have what it takes to intrigue Glenn, new OC Frank Reich and new QBs coach Bill Musgrave?

Tyrod Taylor — The Jets backup the past two seasons can become a free agent but he has said he is open to a return to the Green & White. The Jets respect Taylor's professionalism, but are they interested in a 16th-year QB who turns 37 in August and has struggled with recent injuries? Taylor's passing line as a Jet is fair (62.2% accuracy, 8 TDs, 5 INTs, 81.6 rating). And for what it's worth, his Jets career TD drive rate of 21.5% is fifth-best for all Jets QBs with at least 40 drives while the team TO drive rate with Taylor at QB is 15.1%, second behind only Babe Parilli's 13.8 in 1968-69.

Part 2 of our QB list features quarterbacks who are under contract, but who some pundits have suggested would have outside teams inquiring about them.

Derek Carr — NFL Network insiders reported on Super Bowl Sunday that Carr is open to coming out of retirement but the Saints hold his contractual rights. Carr, 34, has started 169 games in the NFL and completed 65.1% of his passes for 41,245 yards with 257 TDs and 112 INTs.

Kyler Murray — If the Cardinals release Murray, would the Jets be interested? He will carry a big price tag, is coming off a foot injury that limited him to the first five games last season, and his TDPs-to-INTs rate of 2-to-1 is tied for 27th among all qualifying QBs since 2019. Yet he's entering his eighth NFL season, is still under 30, still has a productive passing game and has averaged 6.0 yards/carry. And as The Athletic points out, Glenn knows well Kyler's dad, Kevin Murray, since both starred at Texas A&M.

Jacoby Brissett — With the release of Murray on the first day of the league year being reported, the Cardinals could turn to Brissett, who started the last 12 games for them after Murray's injury. Or they could clean their QB house because Brissett struggled, going 1-11 in his longest stretch as a starter since his fourth year with the Colts in 2019. But Brissett had counterintuitive numbers to go with that record: 64.9% accuracy, 23 TD passes to 8 INTs and a 94.1 rating. It remains to be seen whether Arizona trades him or cuts him or keeps him.

Tanner McKee — Like Willis, McKee has unproven pro-tential. Unlike Willis, he's not a free agent, and Philadelphia likes him backing up Jalen Hurts. McKee, entering his third season, has played in only six games with two starts (1-1) with a nice career 95.7 passer rating but on just 54 NFL throws. Reich was Indy's HC from 2018-20 when Eagles HC Nick Sirianni was the Colts' OC. Would that help seal a deal between these two perennial preseason combatants at far-apart exits on I-95?

Andy Dalton — The Panthers' backup is another trade possibility. He was the "Red Rifle" in the 20-teens with Cincinnati, but Bengals misfires led to hm becoming a gun for hire in the current decade as he went from Dallas to Chicago to New Orleans to Carolina in '23. Like Taylor, he's a 2011 draft pick entering his 16th season, but older, turning 39 in October. The Rifle, as little fired as he was the past three years, is still ready to start when called on and can help Reich coach up a QB draftee, as he showed in guiding Bryce Young to become an improved, playoff-bound signal-caller last season.