Scouting Jets rookie quarterback Jordan Travis

Taking a look at a Jets quarterback prospect

With the 2024 NFL draft behind us, we’re taking an in-depth look at each of the Jets’ draft picks, in reverse order. We continue today with former Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis, who was selected by the Jets with the first of their three picks in the fifth round.

The 24-year old Travis is listed at 6’1” and 200 pounds and was the ACC’s player of the year last year. He led FSU to an 11-0 start before suffering a serious leg injury. He passed for just under 6,000 yards with 44 touchdowns and just seven interceptions as he led his team to a 21-3 record over the last two seasons.

Background

Travis was a three-star prospect out of high school, as he was ranked as the 24th best dual-threat quarterback in the nation. He originally enrolled at Louisville but opted to transfer to FSU after not playing much in his first season in 2018. He ended the year with four completions in 14 attempts, for 71 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

In his first year at FSU, Travis didn’t start any games but occasionally came off the bench, primarily as a runner. He racked up 228 yards and three touchdowns on the ground, including a touchdown scramble on his first ever snap with the team. However, he only threw 11 passes, completing six for 79 yards.

In 2020, Travis started the first six games of his career, winning three. He passed for just over a thousand yards with six touchdowns and six interceptions and rushed for over 500 yards with seven touchdowns.

2021 saw Travis starting nine games, winning five, and he improved his efficiency as he threw for over 1,500 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. He again rushed for over 500 yards with seven touchdowns.

In 2022, Travis led the Seminoles to a 10-3 record as he passed for over 3,000 yards and 24 touchdowns. He also rushed for seven touchdowns, and posted the best completion percentage of his career at 64 percent. At the end of the season, he was named as an all-ACC second team selection.

Having decided to return for a sixth season, Travis began 2023 as a Heisman candidate and had thrown 20 touchdown passes with just two interceptions as he led FSU to an unbeaten start. However, he suffered a terrible leg injury in the 11th game that ended his season.

Despite the injury, Travis still placed 5th in Heisman voting and was named as the ACC’s player of the year and offensive player of the year. He was also an all-ACC first-teamer for the first time.

The injury disrupted Travis’ pre-draft preparation, although he did attend the scouting combine. He was a projected mid-round pick but was still available when the Jets made the first of their three fifth round picks at 171.

Now let’s take a look at what Travis brings to the table, divided into categories.

Measurables/Athleticism

Travis is undersized and has small hands, but is considered a good athlete. While he couldn’t work out at the combine or his pro day, he reportedly has 4.6 speed in the 40-yard dash and this shows up on film.

He bulked up in 2022 to play at 215 pounds but was back down to 203 at the scouting combine, having been out with the injury, and has been listed at 200 by the Jets.

Arm Strength

Travis has adequate arm strength and played with some good deep threats over the course of his time as FSU’s starter, so he has had some good success on deep throws.

He doesn’t really impress with his ability to zip the ball down the field, though, and he doesn’t always throw a tight spiral so his throws can sometimes get hung up in the wind.

Accuracy

Travis’ completion percentages were in the low-60’s throughout his career, which again is adequate but nothing special.

He does showcase an ability to fit the ball into tight windows, as he manages to do on this third down conversion.

Travis also showcases the ability to throw the ball on target when he’s on the move, rolling in either direction.

Some of his accuracy is underwhelming though, and at times there was an over-reliance on mismatches where he just threw the ball up in the receiver’s general direction and counted on him to make a play.

Under pressure

Travis sees his numbers drop off when he’s pressured, although this is no different than any other quarterback prospect, and the drop-off is not particularly alarming.

His numbers are solid when blitzed and he shows good signs that he’s anticipating blitzes and speeding up his process to get the ball out quickly.

When pressure comes, Travis feels it well and can step up or escape the pocket, while still keeping his eyes up to look for opportunities downfield.

He will sometimes bail out of throws when under pressure, often still completing them anyway, but he does stand in there and take a hit sometimes.

Travis’ ball security in the pocket has been solid, despite his small hands and lack of height. He didn’t lose a fumble in 2023 and only had two passes batted at the line. For his career, he had 17 fumbles, losing three and he had nine other passes batted at the line.

Footwork/Technique

Travis has worked hard at tightening up his footwork and mechanics, but they are still realistically a work in progress. There seem to be a lot of highlights where he is off-platform or relying on his arm because he isn’t stepping into a throw but still manages to get the job done. However, those are the kinds of throws that won’t be completions at the NFL level.

As noted, when pressure comes he often bails out of throws or doesn’t have time to correctly set his feet or step into his throw.

This does seem to be an area where he’s showing some improvement now, though. His lower and upper half seem much more synched-up in recent highlights than those from earlier in his career.

Decision Making

Travis has done an outstanding job with ball security over the past two seasons, with just five interceptions in 2022 and two in 2023. He only threw multiple interceptions twice in his career; once in 2021 and once in 2022. That, along with the fact that he has had some clutch performances with late-game heroics, has to be one of the main things Travis brings to the table.

In the past, he had more of a tendency to take risks and force ill-advised throws, but he’s had more success playing conservatively over the past few years.

At times, Travis can be slow to work through his progressions, so he sometimes doesn’t see open receivers until it’s too late, and he doesn’t make a lot of anticipatory throws. There will also be times when he tries to keep a play alive and ends up taking a costly sack instead of getting rid of the ball.

Both Travis and his coaches have noted that his confidence has improved over the past few seasons, but rather than manifesting itself in gunslinger tendencies and risk-taking, it’s instead led him to feel confident to take what’s available and live to fight another day rather than panicking and trying to make something happen.

Mobility

After three seasons in a row with over 400 rushing yards – bearing in mind that they deduct sack yardage from rushing totals in college so the actual rushing totals would actually be even higher than this – Travis rushed for less than 200 yards in 2023, although he did rush for seven touchdowns again for the fourth year in a row.

That reduction in yardage is probably a good sign, as it shows that he was looking for open receivers rather than taking off and running. He does that here, also displaying improved footwork as he resets the pocket.

Travis has the athleticism to move the chains on scrambles and designed runs, with an ability to accelerate away from front seven defenders and slip tackles.

He’s also been an effective option on quarterback sneaks, on which he displays good strength and tenacity.

Travis has lined up out wide and carried the ball on jet sweeps at times and even caught three passes, with one for a score, in his college career.

Special teams

Travis has not played special teams during his college career and won’t be expected to with the Jets.

Scheme Fit

The Jets have obviously identified Travis as someone who can deputize for Aaron Rodgers and learn from him how to be a success within their system. He offers a similar run threat to Tyrod Taylor, perhaps helping to compensate for those areas where he can’t emulate Rodgers.

Travis was a teammate of current Jets players Jermaine Johnson and Jacques Patrick at FSU.

Injuries

Travis suffered a terrible injury late last season, which will affect his availability heading to training camp. As he fought for extra yardage, his ankle was twisted under him and he suffered a fracture and dislocation.

In 2020, he showed toughness as he didn’t miss any games through injury but was constantly banged up with injuries to his leg, throwing hand and shoulder.

Travis was knocked out of a few other games, including one in 2022 where he did not return.

Intangibles

As noted, Travis benefited from improved confidence over the past few seasons, which he says came from watching a lot of film and developing chemistry with his receivers during offseason throwing sessions.

He has been a resilient player who has shown good leadership and, as noted, has come up big in the clutch on several occasions.

Travis is already showing determination to soak in as much information as possible from Rodgers and to ultimately take over from him as the quarterback of the future.

Conclusions

Travis is in a good situation where expectations will not be high and it’s accepted that he’s going to need a few years to learn the ropes (and to get over his 2023 injury).

The Jets have brought in a handful of highly-rated quarterback prospects and thrown them straight into the line-up over the last 10-15 years, with consistently bad results. Maybe bringing someone along slowly will be an approach which proves more successful.

With that said, Travis doesn’t have elite arm talent and still needs to work at his processing, accuracy and mechanics, so he’s got plenty of growing to do, in addition to learning the ins and outs of the Jets’ system until it’s time for him to actually see the field.