Now that Brett Favre has decided to retire, the Jets can make a decision on who will compete to be their starting quarterback for the upcoming season.  Rex Ryan knew that he did not walk into a rebuilding situation. This is clearly a win-now team, and Jets fans will not have the patience for them to develop a new quarterback, so it will be interesting to see what they do in the coming weeks to address the position.  

There are three ways in which they can address the situation.

? Stick with what they have —  The Jets may think that either Kellen Clemens or Brett Ratliff could indeed be the answer.  They seem to be very high on Ratliff; he showed some good things during the preseason, but really, how much can we tell about someone in games against backups and third stringers?  At only 24, he is considered to be a bright young quarterback, and if successful, he could be the starter for years to come.  He is, however, a free agent, but I don’t think it will take a lot of money to retain him, so he should be one of the quarterbacks that they bring to camp this summer. 

Clemens, on the other hand, had a chance to show what he had two years ago, and I think that if the Jet’s were satisfied with his performance, they would not have traded for Favre in the first place. So, my feeling is that if they were to stick with both of their current quarterbacks, Ratliff would be the favorite to start.

? Draft a young quarterback — I don’t know how happy Jets fans would be with this move, but keep in mind where Rex Ryan came from, and look at the success that the Ravens had this past season with Joe Flacco. 

Matt Stafford and Mark Sanchez are considered the two top quarterbacks this year, and if the Jets want either of them, it will probably require a trade in the draft.  This would also be a surprise move to me considering that the Jets have so much invested in the next couple of years, and we can’t expect all first round quarterbacks to have the success that Matt Ryan and Joe Flacco had last season.

? Bring in a veteran — If the Jets think that they do indeed have a championship-caliber team, they may bring in a veteran that could bring them instant satisfaction like Favre did last season.  Kurt Warner and Kerry Collins are two guys who had great seasons this past year, and if they are not retained by their current teams, they could be considered.  Warner showed that he can still lead a team to the playoffs but it has to be the right situation, and Collins had great success with the Giants and proved that he could throw in the windy Meadowlands.  Some other names to keep in mind are Byron Leftwich and Jeff Garcia, and don’t forget Kyle Boller, who Ryan knows very well from his days in Baltimore. 

My opinion is that Jets should go after either Marc Bulger or Derek Anderson, neither of which are free agents but are very attainable.  Anderson showed that he could start in this league, and I saw him light up the Giants last year in the Monday night game. He has also been a victim of many dropped passes and is now the backup behind Brady Quinn.  The Browns do not want to pay two quarterbacks starter money, so I think that they would want to move him. The only problem here is that Eric Mangini is now the coach of the Browns and would not be too eager to do business with the Jets.  Bulger, on the other hand, may be released by the Rams and wouldn’t require any compensation.  He has proved that he could start in the league and is still young enough to build around.

As free agency begins at the end of the month, it will be interesting to see which way the Jets will go with their thought process.