The search for the “Next Namath” has become an enduring quest within the New York Jets community, to the point where the phrase almost deserves a trademark. Regardless of the year or the quarterback taking the helm—even if it’s a seasoned pro like Aaron Rodgers—the Jets have been on a seemingly endless pursuit of their next quarterback hero. This hunt has spanned more than five decades since Joe Namath graced the field, and it often feels even longer.

However, amid the latest chapter in Jets history, following a season where they resembled an expansion team and found themselves under new leadership once more, the team should reconsider their focus. Instead of chasing the elusive “Next Namath,” perhaps their sights should be set on finding the “Next Ryan Fitzpatrick.”

For those unfamiliar with Fitzpatrick’s legacy, he was the quarterback for the last Jets team that boasted a winning record and had a legitimate chance at the playoffs. This was until a final day defeat in Buffalo, under the stewardship of former Jets coach Rex Ryan, dashed their hopes. Fitzpatrick’s tenure remains a highlight for many fans, marking the last time the team was genuinely competitive.

Reflecting on that 10-6 season, which now feels almost mythical, Fitzpatrick was a 33-year-old journeyman quarterback hailing from Harvard. By then, the Jets were the sixth NFL team he had played for, and three more would follow. Yet, during that season, he was the most impactful Jets quarterback since Vinny Testaverde’s era, when Testaverde almost led the team to a Super Bowl under Bill Parcells.

When Fitzpatrick joined the Jets, he wasn’t heralded as a savior. He was simply a solid choice for head coach Todd Bowles and offensive coordinator Chan Gailey, much like the experienced Frank Reich in today’s coaching roster. Nevertheless, in that remarkable 2015 season, Fitzpatrick threw 31 touchdown passes against 15 interceptions, amassing over 3,900 yards. The Jets came tantalizingly close to breaking their playoff drought, which had persisted since Rex Ryan’s coaching days.

While it may be wishful thinking to find another Fitzpatrick-like figure as free agency approaches, the Jets need not lament missing out on drafting another high-profile prospect such as Fernando Mendoza. They need not pin their hopes on the latest college star, like Austin’s Arch Manning, who is often hyped by local media as a potential savior.

What the Jets need to do, in free agency and then in the upcoming draft, is finally begin building the kind of solid foundation — I know, it’s the Jets — that might have them looking like a real team if a hot kid somehow does fall into their laps one day soon. As they do try to build a real team and a real program, they should absolutely be looking for a veteran who actually might do for Darren Mougey and Aaron Glenn and Frank Reich what Fitzpatrick did for Bowles and Gailey over a decade ago, before the Jets officially became a league-wide joke.

And by the way? Mendoza, as terrific as he was for Indiana, is no sure thing for the Raiders, if the Raiders choose to take him with the first pick in a month, as it appears that they will. Listen, sometimes the top guy turns out to be Caleb Williams. Or the next guy after him, Jayden Daniels. Or the next guy after Daniels, Drake Maye, the Carolina kid who made it all the way to the Super Bowl a month ago.

But sometimes the hot kid turns into Kyler Murray. Or Tua Tagovailoa. Or Sanchez, even if he was the quarterback for the Jets in two AFC championship games before flaming out (as a QB, not in TV). Or Wilson. Or even Darnold. You know why Darnold was also viewed as a flame-out here despite the Jets taking him with the third pick in the draft? Because when he got here, there was no solid foundation in place for him to succeed, no coherent management structure, and not nearly enough talent in the room.

You know the last time there was any kind of solid foundation, or something resembling a real team at Florham Park? When Fitzpatrick was the quarterback, whether he was viewed as some sort of stop-gap solution at the time or not. No one is suggesting that the Jets shouldn’t select a quarterback at some point in the next draft. Maybe they can run into somebody like Jaxson Dart.

What they cannot do, however, is act as if next season is already something to be thrown away because the next quarterback draft might be better than this one. That means dispensing with all of chatter and nonsense about the March for Arch. The Jets owe their fans more than that after everything that has happened since that last winning season; and even if all the moves that Mougey makes in the short run can’t produce a team capable of winning as many as seven games in the 2016-17 season. Guess what? If you’re a Jets fan, seven wins would seem like a lot by next January if there is finally the sense that Mougey is in the process of building something to last.

There are all sorts of names to throw around, and being thrown around. Perhaps Carson Wentz, if he’s healthy, makes sense just off the small sample we saw from him with the Vikings last season. Davis Mills would seem to fit the profile of the kind of quarterback Reich seems to prefer, but you wonder if the Texans would even consider moving him, not until they’ve determined whether they have a C.J. Stroud problem or not. Marcus Mariota is a free agent, and I actually liked what I saw of Mariota with the Commanders after Daniels got hurt.

And for anybody who still thinks the top quarterback picks in a draft are sure things, just remember that the first pick in Mariota’s draft was Jameis Winston. Then came Mariota. Stuff sure happened to both of them, didn’t it? By last season Jameis had bounced around long enough to become a viable backup to Dart with the Giants. Mariota had done the same in Washington.

Jameis and Mariota, in fact, have bounced around the way much the way Ryan Fitzpatrick once did. Both still just 32 years old. Either one of them would have looked like Namath for the Jets last season compared to Justin Fields.

The Jets need a quarterback, for sure. But need a lot more than that. Mostly a program. Start building one of those. Now. Then go looking for, well, some magic.

NCAA’S LINE IN THE SAND, A NEW CAPTAIN AMERICA & SALUTING A GREAT NEW YORKER …

The NCAA lets everybody in college football go wherever they want whenever they want and make as much money as they want along the way, but now they’re going to court to keep Trinidad Chambliss from playing one more season at Ole Miss.

Got it.

Yeah, let’s draw a line in the sand with him.

In all the years since the Yankees last won the World Series in ’09, when hasn’t the local media had our kids halfway to the Canyon of Heroes in March?

You sometimes get the feeling that if LeBron, as great as he still is, walks away from the Lakers when this season is over there might not be a wet eye in the place.

With Mike Tomlin out there, Aaron Glenn better win some games.

Because Tomlin, if he were willing to be another Super Bowl coach to come coach the Jets the way Parcells once did, would bring the same kind of credibility to them that John Harbaugh instantly brought to the Giants.

All this time after David Wright was Captain America for the World Baseball Classic, now here comes No. 99 to play the part.

How can you not root for Francisco Lindor to be out there on Opening Day against the Pirates?

It is truly amazing, in light of how fast Jayson Tatum has come back from that torn Achilles, that Kobe Bryant once came back even faster.

In light of what happened to Kristi Noem this week, I’m not as worried about her as I am about her blanky.

Wembanyama is a wagon, isn’t he?

And now the Knicks have gotten his Spurs twice this season.

Watching Jalen Brunson flopping the other night and watching Shai Gilgeous-Alexander begging for calls like a Premier League player was like watching a championship fight.

I saw the other day that Sen. Tom Cotton said that we had to attack Iran because that country has posed an imminent threat for the past 47 years.

But I’d like to point out again that if you use Cotton’s math, the Pirates have been an imminent threat to win another World Series over the same period.

Finally today:

We lost a truly great New Yorker the other day when my friend Ronnie Eldridge passed away at the age of 95.

She was a member of the City Council, and she worked with John Lindsay and Robert F. Kennedy and Bella Abzug, and did a lot more than that.

Mostly she fought all the good fights in her city for all of her adult life.

And she was married to the great Jimmy Breslin for 35 years until Jimmy’s death in 2017.

The only shame of such a long and honorable career in politics was that she was never the mayor of her city, a job at which she would have been merely spectacular.

As her late husband once said at a memorial service for someone else he loved — the earth now receives an honored guest.