Josh McCown enjoyed a career season with the Jets in 2017, despite turning 38 two months before it began. He rallied a young, inexperienced group of players, and led them to a not-awful 5-11 mark.
And the free-agent-to-be hopes it's just the beginning of his time in New York. Appearing on NFL Network's Total Access, McCown said he'd like to return to the Jets, and signs point towards him playing in 2018.
"Right now, that's how it's looking," McCown said when asked if he 100 percent wants to play. "At this time of the year, I go through those conversations with my family, talk with them through that, pray through that.
"But where we're at right now, I feel like I want to play ... I'm looking forward to the next few months, seeing what happens, and I'll be ready to go."
McCown played 13 games for the Jets last season, and set career-highs in completion percentage (67.3), passing yards (2,926), passing touchdowns (18) and rushing touchdowns (5). He had a quarterback rating of 94.5, and threw just nine interceptions.
More impressive than his individual accolades was the standard McCown helped get his teammates to play. There was preseason talk the Jets were tanking, and would win just one, maybe two games. Not only did the Jets win five, they lost just two with McCown under center by double-digit points.
"I think there was just a bar we set for ourselves, and a standard back in April, of things we wanted to accomplish," McCown said. "So we did some good things, we were pleased with that, but as much as maybe the expectations were from the outside, I think as players we would say we underachieved, and we could have been better.
"It was still a fun season. We still did some good things. Hopefully, we can build on those things."
McCown's season came to an abrupt halt against the Broncos in Week 14. He broke his left hand on a third-quarter hit. He got surgery days later, and the Jets placed him on injured reserve. McCown served as a player-coach the rest of the season.
McCown had a black wrap around his hand on NFL Network, but said the injury is "healing up," and he's just a "few weeks away" from being 100 percent.
General manager Mike Maccagnan, acting owner Christopher Johnson and coach Todd Bowles have all said they'd like McCown back with the Jets next year, which makes sense. Not only does New York have the cap space to get a deal done, but McCown would be the perfect mentor to a potential rookie, like Wyoming's Josh Allen, UCLA's Josh Rossen or USC's Sam Darnold.
But it's not that simple for the Jets. There could be better options on the open market.
If the Chiefs can't trade Alex Smith, they could release him. Kirk Cousins' contract with the Redskins is set to expire. The Vikings won't retain Teddy Bridgewater, Case Keenum and Sam Bradford, so one or two of the three will hit free agency.
Instead of re-signing McCown, the Jets could sign someone else.
"I enjoyed my season there this year," McCown said. "More than anything just the people in the organization. It's a special place from the ownership down. I enjoyed my time with Coach (Todd) Bowles.
"A lot of decisions have to be made within the next few months, but I loved being there, and we'll see how it plays out."
Connor Hughes may be reached at chughes@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @Connor_J_Hughes. Find NJ.com Jets on Facebook.