The New York Jets could look to fill their WR void with some sizzle.
ESPN’s Rich Cimini name-dropped Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Quentin Johnston as a potential trade target for the green and white.
Johnston, 24, will turn 25 before the start of the 2026 season. Across his three years in the NFL, the former TCU product has appeared in 46 games and has made 31 starts. With those opportunities, Johnston has been targeted 242 times and has collected 144 receptions, 1,877 receiving yards, and 18 touchdowns.
Johnston originally entered the league as the No. 21 overall pick in the first round of the 2023 NFL draft.
An Attractive Option for the Jets
There is a lot to like.
Size: Johnston is listed at 6-foot-2 and weighs 208 pounds.
Youth: still only 24 years of age.
Plenty of flashes of brilliance. Over the last two years, Johnston has collected 16 total touchdowns, 1,446 receiving yards, and 106 receptions.
For now, he is relatively inexpensive, but the Chargers or the team that controls his rights [if he were traded] will have to decide on his fifth-year team option.
According to Over The Cap, Johnston has an $18 million team option for 2026. If accepted, that contract figure is fully guaranteed. That $18 million annual salary would place Johnston No. 22 among the highest-paid wide receivers in the NFL, per OTC.
If accepted, Johnston would be under contract through the 2027 season. If declined, Johnson would be scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent next offseason.
More Fuel on Trade Fire
Earlier this offseason, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell wrote a column documenting all the wide receivers who could be on the move.
One of the names on that list was Johnston.
“It has been a bizarre career for Johnston, as the 2023 first-round pick was a rookie punchline for his hands. In Year 2, Johnston established himself as a playmaker and downfield option while still having a brutal run of drops against the Ravens. And then, this past season, Johnston’s hands … were mostly fine? Next Gen Stats still credited him with five drops, which isn’t ideal, but he also ran a catch rate 5.2% over expectation, which hints toward Johnston making more tough catches than the highlights might suggest. He was at minus-4.3% last season,” Barnwell wrote.
Johnston seemed like he was on pace for a career season in 2025. Through the first month of the season, he had 22 receptions for 337 receiving yards and four touchdowns.
However, he wasn’t able to keep that up throughout the rest of the season.
Two big reasons for that.
The Chargers’ offensive line imploded with injuries, which compromised Justin Herbert’s ability to throw deep down the field.
Secondly, the surprising emergence of tight end Oronde Gadsden, a fifth-round pick out of Syracuse, ate into Johnston’s touches.
“After topping 70 yards in each of his first four games, Johnston didn’t go over that total again until Week 16,” Barnwell wrote.
“The Chargers have Herbert on a massive deal and will also pay [Ladd] McConkey before the 2027 season. Coach Jim Harbaugh and GM Joe Hortiz also inherited Johnston from the previous regime, so they’re not as attached to him as they would be for one of their own picks,” Barnwell explained.
“A trade might be the best thing for Johnston, who I think profiles best as a power slot receiver. With McConkey (and [Keenan] Allen this season) ahead of him for slot snaps, Johnston took only 13% of his snaps out of the slot in 2025. He averaged 2.6 yards per route run out of the slot, just about double what he averaged split out wide. A place where he can play in the slot on a regular basis might help unlock some untapped potential, and even if another team picks up his fifth-year option, it would be on the hook for only about $20 million combined over the next two seasons,” Barnwell added.
A Dating Game for the Jets
Have you ever had a dog? If you have, you probably have tried taking your pup on play dates with someone you know. You go to a neutral location, one dog on one side of the room, one dog on the other side of the room, and you let them be together.
Both owners are nervously at the ready to jump in if something goes wrong, but cautiously optimistic that they will become best friends.
That is sort of what the Jets are trying to do with Garrett Wilson. He is a star young WR1 who makes you smile. He needs a playmate. In 2024, the Jets tried to give him a superstar next to him with a trade for Davante Adams.
On the surface, this pairing made incredible sense. Adams is a borderline future Pro Football Hall of Famer. Think of all of the things he could teach Wilson? However, these two dogs weren’t a match on the play date.
For a lot of reasons, that partnership failed. Adams had a pre-existing relationship with Aaron Rodgers. Rodgers force-fed him targets, which left Wilson feeling overlooked.
Here is the complicated balance for the Jets. They want a competent WR2, but not too much of a name that could complain about lack of targets. You need a puzzle piece fit. Someone who can command the respect of the opposing defense, but not rock the boat.
If the Jets were testing the temperature of this porridge, Johnston might be just right. He is a former first-round pick who hasn’t been anywhere near a Pro Bowl level across a season, but he is really solid and sometimes spectacular.
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