The New York Jets selected Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis in the fifth round of the NFL Draft last week, potentially securing their eventual successor to Aaron Rodgers.
Evidently, Travis had some help from a former collegiate teammate throughout the process.
Jets defensive end Jermaine Johnson II says that he pushed for the club to take Travis and was urging head coach Robert Saleh to make a move for him.
“I mean just knowing [him], I texted coach Saleh and I was just like, ‘Dude, we need Jordan Travis,’ like, we need him, it’s a perfect situation for us, perfect situation for him,” Johnson said on NFL Total Access, via Coral Smith of NFL.com.
New York heeded Johnson’s advice, trading up to the 171st pick to take the signal-caller.
Johnson played one year with Travis at Florida State. He watched his friend this past season, when Travis suffered a season-ending injury in mid-November that ended the Seminoles’ bid for a national title.
“I watched the game where he had gotten injured, and my heart just shattered because he was having like, the last two years of tape he put together was like, some of the most dynamic quarterback play I’ve seen in college,” Johnson said. “I know how the draft goes, I know how all that stuff goes, so I was like, dang, it definitely hurt him, but I know he can still ball, and obviously he’s still healing up at an awesome rate. I’ve seen the videos, he’s sending me videos, I’m encouraging him and whatnot, so I have no doubt in my mind that he’s going to get back to who he is and even progress from there.”
Prior to getting hurt in 2023, Travis had thrown for 2,756 yards, 20 touchdowns and two interceptions while completing 63.9 percent of his passes. He also punched in seven rushing scores.
Travis will go into next season as the third-string quarterback behind Rodgers and Tyrod Taylor, and Johnson thinks it will be a great learning experience for the youngster.
“He gets to sit behind Tyrod and Aaron and learn from Tyrod’s perspective and Aaron’s perspective, and then also I mean they have a killer quarterback just in the stable learning from those guys,” Johnson said. “So it’s good for everybody and I just thought it was perfect for both sides, so why not, and sure enough when the opportunity came around they grabbed him.”
We’ll see if the Jets have really found their quarterback of the future in Jordan Travis. If they did, they have Johnson to thank for it.
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