The best argument against expanding the NFL from 32 teams is that there simply aren’t enough quarterbacks.
Especially as the season unfolds, and quarterbacks inevitably are injured.
On Wednesday, five quarterbacks received tryouts with new teams. The Jets worked out Desmond Ridder and Dorian Thompson-Robinson. The Cardinals worked out Jeff Driskel, Kyle Trask, Logan Woodside.
Of the group, Ridder has the most experience. The third-round pick in the 2022 draft has started 18 games — 17 with the Falcons and one last year with the Raiders.
All five were drafted. Trask, a second-round pick in 2021, went the earliest. He was released by the Buccaneers in late August, and has not signed with any other roster or practice squad.
The Jets, who are off this weekend, have two quarterbacks on the roster: Justin Fields and Tyrod Taylor. Brady Cook is on the practice squad. Taylor, who seemed to be in line to supplant Fields as the starter for Week 8, missed the win over the Bengals with a knee injury.
The Cardinals have three quarterbacks on the roster: Kyler Murray, Jacoby Brissett, and Kedon Slovis. Murray has missed the last two games with a foot injury. The Cardinals had a Week 8 bye.
The Cardinals will issue their first injury report in advance of Monday night’s game at Dallas on Thursday. Whether the Cardinals are thinking about adding an extra quarterback given the possibility that Murray will miss more time or whether they’re thinking about swapping out Slovis for another third-string option remains to be seen.
The Jets and Eagles are making a trade.
According to multiple reports the Jets will send cornerback Michael Carter to the Eagles for wide receiver John Metchie. The Eagles will also send a 2027 sixth-round pick to the Jets and they’ll get a 2027 seventh-rounder in return.
Carter has played 65 games for the Jets since being selected in the fifth round of the 2021 draft. He has seen most of his playing time in the slot and his arrival could lead to more playing time on the outside for Cooper DeJean over the rest of the season. He has 14 tackles so far this season.
Metchie was acquired from the Texans in an August trade and he had four catches for 18 yards in seven games with the Eagles. The 2022 second-round pick had 40 catches for 412 yards and a touchdown while with Houston.
As the criminal case against former NFL quarterback and current Fox broadcaster Mark Sanchez moves toward a December 11 trial date, the prosecution has produced various discovery materials to Sanchez’s lawyers.
Via Lauren Conlin of Los Angeles Magazine, the state’s production of evidence relevant to the case includes body-worn camera footage from at least 20 Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department officers, multiple dash-cam recordings, and photographs from the crime scene.
No mention was made of surveillance video containing images of the interactions between Sanchez and Perry Tole, the 69-year-old truck driver whom Sanchez allegedly assaulted.
Sanchez faces multiple charges, including felony battery. His potential sentence includes one to six years in prison.
All materials are subject to a protective order that prevents public disclosure without a court order. As the prosecution proceeds, much of the evidence will be disclosed in court — especially if the case goes to trial.
The 1-7 Jets are increasing season-ticket prices for 2026.
As noted by Mark Cannizzaro of the New York Post, fans are upset. A Jets spokesperson has tried to take some of the steam out of the situation by pointing out that “the more affordable seats” at MetLife Stadium (entire sections of upper-deck and lower end-zone seats) aren’t increasing at all, and that 56 percent of the seats will have higher prices in the range of $5 to $10 per game.
The total price hike, per the spokesperson, is 3.5 percent throughout the stadium. (Which, obviously, means a greater percentage for the seats with higher prices, given that “the more affordable seats” aren’t increasing at all.)
The spokesperson also attempted to blame the increase on the fact that one of the team’s nine 2025 regular-season home games was exported to London.
“The first thing people have to look at is last year they didn’t pay for a full season of home games because of the London game, so the [2025] ticket prices were reduced by one game,’’ the spokesperson told Cannizzaro. “That game comes back to us next year because we have nine home games.”
That’s factually incorrect. This year, the Jets had eight true regular-season home games and one neutral-site home game. Next year, all AFC home teams will have eight regular-season home games, not nine. (The extra game in 2026 will happen in the meaningless preseason, when the home games double from one to two.)
Ultimately, the Jets can charge whatever they want for their tickets. And the fans can huff and puff. If the tickets sell, it’s just noise. The real question is whether season-ticket holders will decide they’ve had enough.
Remember what that kid said after their most recent home loss, to the Panthers: “I hate this team. I was born into this and I’m not gonna ever — I’m always a Jets fan. But, like, I hate this team.”
The Jets don’t care if the fans love the team or hate the team, as long as they buy the tickets. They’re banking on the fact that, even at a higher price, they still will.
If the fans keep doing it, will anything ever really change?
Isaiah Williams spent the offseason in Cincinnati, but the Bengals cut him at the end of the preseason. He made them regret it on Sunday.
After Williams briefly spent time with the Bengals’ practice squad, the Jets signed Williams to their active roster in September, and he’s been the Jets’ punt and kickoff returner since then. Today Williams was named the AFC special teams player of the week for his performance in the Jets’ 39-38 win over the Bengals.
Williams returned five kickoffs for 132 yards and three punts for 38 yards in the Jets’ comeback win. His 26.4-yard average on kickoff returns was the highest by an AFC player with at least four kickoff returns this week, and he had a 21-yard punt return that was the longest in the league this week.
Williams and Buccaneers kicker Chase McLaughlin both played at Illinois, giving the Illini both the AFC and the NFC special teams players of the week for Week Eight.
