The ghosts of quarterback hits still echo around Florham Park. Mention the past ten years to any Jets fan, and they’ll reveal to you a highlight reel of green and white quarterbacks: duck-walking away from falling pockets, medical tents at the 50-yard line, and Sunday evenings spent cursing. But what if the initial domino that sent all of those plans crashing never fell?

In Pro Football Focus’ new 2015 redraft, the alternate reality Jets put the brakes on that domino. With the sixth overall, they pass on defensive tackle Leonard Williams and pick up Brandon Scherff, a future five‑time Pro Bowler. Undoubtedly, Scherff’s résumé is self-explanatory: a dominant, technically proficient lineman who developed into one of the league’s premier guards. Exactly the kind of road grader the Jets kept hoping would materialize every April. Place him alongside the still-great Nick Mangold, and suddenly the 2016–19 quarterback merry-go-round doesn’t look quite so much like a fire drill.

Scherff’s presence would have resonated far beyond the box score. His blend of physical run-game power and reliable pass protection would’ve allowed Chan Gailey to call genuine play-action for Ryan Fitzpatrick in 2015, kept Sam Darnold upright long enough to find a second read in 2019, and maybe even spared Zach Wilson the pocket PTSD that sped up his internal clock. Rather than duct-taping the line every offseason—Kelvin Beachum one year, Ryan Kalil the next-the Jets might have built around a true cornerstone. That kind of hypothetical stability echoes beyond just the win-loss column.

Jets history is littered with near-miss solutions. Remember trading assets for Kelechi Osemele’s injured shoulder? Or banking on Mekhi Becton’s knees? A Brandon Scherff selection might have changed the equation entirely. Maybe Joe Douglas never dives into the free-agent pool for stopgap linemen. Or Todd Bowles gets another year. And maybe Le’Veon Bell doesn’t meet defenders the moment he takes a handoff. It’s the butterfly effect—with 315 pounds of corn-fed force.

How bad was it? A decade of Jets O‑Line misfires

Before we get too cozy in that redraft paradise, it’s worth recalling the real path the Jets took—one strewn with blown-up blocks. The Jets’ 2015 O-line was graded 26th out of 32. Their pass protection was sluggish, the run game uninspired, and the tackle positions teetered on collapse. D’Brickashaw Ferguson and Breno Giacomini were both in their 30s and already showing clear signs of serious decline. And from there, it only got worse.

By 2019, the dam finally burst: Jets quarterbacks suffered 52 sacks, the fourth-most in the league. Adam Gase cycled through eight offensive line permutations that season, at one point starting journeymen at four of five positions. Darnold’s “seeing ghosts” joke became a meme, but behind the humor was a young quarterback getting his bell rung every 11 dropbacks. The front office’s solution? One-year stopgaps like George Fant and a mid-season trade for the previously retired Ryan Kalil—moves that screamed desperation over design.

Missed draft picks only fueled the chaos. Fourth-rounder Cameron Clark never played a regular-season snap before a neck injury ended his career. First-rounder Mekhi Becton flashed promise, then missed 33 of his next 51 games. Free-agent attempts failed too. Greg Van Roten allowed 49 pressures in two years. Also, Morgan Moses, though solid, was gone after one season. Every failed fill-in led to the next, a never-ending game of musical chairs where the music always ended in a strip-sack fumble.

Coaches paid the price. Gase’s love of quick-game wasn’t stylistic—it was survival. Robert Saleh showed patience, but by 2023, frustration crept into postgame pressers as protection broke down yet again. The team rotated line coaches, shuffled starting fives, and even rebuilt schemes around slide protection. All of it amounted to Band-Aids on a bullet wound. From 2016 to 2024, the Jets never ranked higher than 21st in aggregate offensive line rankings, and in most seasons, they teetered on the bottom five.

That’s the havoc Brandon Scherff’s alternate-reality arrival might have prevented. One blue-chip guard doesn’t solve everything—but anchors do. Plant that same tree in New York’s hardpan soil back in 2015, and maybe the franchise narrative shifts from ‘find the next QB savior’ to ‘build around the trenches.’