We all know that some NFL franchises get more hype than others. ESPN & the other sports networks go on for hours about certain teams while ignoring the existence of others. Usually the teams focused on are elite teams, but sometimes the media is obsessed with the ones that make for the most entertaining train wrecks.

For most of my time watching football, the New York Jets have fallen into that category. Even when they’re making deep playoff runs, you have things like Rex Ryan foot fetishes going on. Brett Favre shows up and becomes a sexual predator. They played most of their history in Giants Stadium. It’s always something with these guys. I mean, their owner is named Woody Johnson. It’s a comedy of errors at all times.

They have quarterbacks though. So let’s rank some of them!

5. Richard Todd

The Jets took Todd with the sixth overall pick in the 1976 Draft with the intention of having him replace Joe Namath. Made sense on paper, Todd had also played at Namath’s alma mater of Alabama & was coached by Paul “Bear” Bryant. In practice, following Broadway Joe wasn’t easy. Todd threw more interceptions than touchdowns each of his first five seasons, while the team was unable to break the 8-8 barrier.

Things turned around in 1981, when Todd threw his most touchdown passes in a single season, threw his lowest percentage of interceptions, & led the Jets to ten wins & a playoff berth. The strike-shortened 1982 season saw Todd lead the sixth seeded Jets to the AFC Championship Game, where they would be shut out by the Dolphins. Todd was traded to the Saints after throwing 26 interceptions during the 1983 season, and was out of football by 1986.

4. Ken O’Brien

O’Brien was part of the legendary 1983 NFL Draft class where six quarterbacks were taken in the first round. Him being part of that came as a bit of a surprise, as he played his college ball at UC-Davis, a Division II school. It also came as a surprise to Jets fans because the highly-regarded Dan Marino was still on the board, and would go to Miami three picks later. Unfortunately, any discussion of O’Brien’s career has to include this.

O’Brien did have a solid career, which peaked in 1985 when he threw for 3,888 yards & 25 touchdowns. He went to the Pro Bowl that season & in 1991. O’Brien led the league in lowest interception rate in three seasons. He made history on November 2, 1986 against the Seahawks, when he was the first quarterback to throw for over 400 yards and achieve a perfect passer rating of 158.3. O’Brien also won the first NFL Quarterback Challenge in 1990, which is an event that definitely needs to be brought back.

3. Vinny Testaverde

After stints in Tampa, Cleveland & Baltimore, the Brooklyn native returned to his home area in 1998 & had one of the best seasons of his career. Testaverde threw 29 touchdown passes while only throwing 7 interceptions, leading the Jets to a 12-1 record in games he started & a trip to the AFC Championship Game. The Jets won the AFC East for the first time since the AFL/NFL merger. After missing the 1999 season due to a ruptured Achilles tendon in Week 1, Testaverde returned in 2000, where he led the league in interceptions & pass attempts. His season was highlighted by the Monday Night Miracle, where he led the Jets back from a 30-7 deficit with four touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to beat the Dolphins 40-37.

The Jets & Vinny returned to the playoffs in 2001, but Testaverde would see his job go to Chad Pennington in 2002 after a 1-3 start. He’d serve as Pennington’s backup during the 2002 & 03 seasons, and come back to the team to fill in for Pennington in 2005 after both Pennington & backup Jay Fiedler got injured.

2. Chad Pennington

Pennington’s play at Marshall impressed the Jets enough to make him the eighteenth overall pick in the 2000 NFL Draft. He was inserted into the starting job after Testaverde struggled in 2002, and led the Jets on a run to the AFC East title & a playoff win. He led the league in completion percentage, touchdown percentage & QB rating that season, which would end up being his peak. He would lead the Jets to two more playoff berths, and win his first Comeback Player of the Year award in 2006 after returning from a torn rotator cuff. Pennington would fall off in 2007, leaving the Jets for Miami, where he would win the Comeback Player of the Year award again in 2008.

Comparing Pennington with Testaverde is tough. Similar number of games, Vinny had a slightly better record and made it deeper in the playoffs. That being said, Chad had more touchdowns, fewer interceptions, averaged more yards per game and had a higher QB rating. No wonder New York sports talk radio was all over this debate in the early 2000s.

Honorable Mention: Mark Sanchez

I know some will make the argument that Sanchez should be on this list because he won some road playoff games and his Jets teams went to two AFC Championship Games. The answer to them would be that Sanchez’s play didn’t have as much to do with the team’s success as the performance of Darrelle Revis, Bart Scott and the rest of the Jets’ defense at the time. Also, the Butt Fumble, as seen above.

1. Joe Namath

Not much of a debate here. Broadway Joe played the most games, threw the most touchdowns, has the most passing yards and still holds the franchise single season record with 4,007 passing yards in 1967. He was selected to four AFL All-Star Games, led the AFL in passing yards twice & the NFL once. Namath was the AFL Player of the Year in 1968 & 69. 1972 saw Namath lead the NFL in passing yards & touchdowns, a good recovery after being injured through much of 1970 & 71.

The one knock against Namath: he led his league in interceptions four times during his career. He retired with 173 touchdowns & 220 interceptions, with a completion percentage of only 50.1%. People these days look at these numbers and use them as an argument for any halfway decent QB to make it into the Hall of Fame with Namath. They overlook the impact Namath had on & off the field. Namath was one of the first true mainstream stars the sport had, gaining headlines on the sports & entertainment pages. Any other QB that’s been able to get over with the mainstream media since can thank Joe Willie for paving the way.

Players can’t say they’re going to win an upcoming game without being compared to Joe Namath. He did it before Super Bowl III, and that game has stood the test of time as one of the most memorable moments in NFL history. It’s also the last time the Jets went to a Super Bowl, but we try not to harp on that.

Thanks for reading! Next time, we look at the Philadelphia Eagles!