Let's Talk About Sam Darnold

Edition #713

Good morning ☕

It was always inevitable that at some point this week we’d need to talk about Sam Darnold. The Jets drafted the laid-back California dude with the #3 pick in the 2018 draft. The Jets sent their first round pick and three second round picks to the Colts for the right to draft Darnold, they then surrounded him with absolute trash and became confused that he couldn’t develop as they envisioned.

Just like with Geno, it’s taken a long time for Sam to start showing his potential. For Geno it was his 9th year in the league, for Sam it’s his 7th year. I really liked Sam as a QB, I went to bat for him while he was at USC and preached patience while he was with the Jets.

But I’m going to repeat exactly what I said when we spoke about Geno last year. No team in the NFL is waiting until year 7 for a highly drafted prospect to figure it out.

Very few QBs break out after over 5 years of mediocrity, but some do. I don’t think any QB has every broken out after 5 years with the same team. So while I liked Sam and still believed in him in Carolina, I agreed that it was time for the Jets to move on. Based largely on having a new coaching staff and a high pick.

With hindsight the Jets probably could and should have auctioned that pick off to the highest bidder and surrounded Sam with the talent to really find out what he was about.

We can say that because the Zach Wilson pick just didn’t work out. Maybe in 3-4 years time we’re talking about Zach the same way we talk about Geno and Sam, maybe at some point it all clicks. But as soon as the Jets started Zach as a rookie, they started the clock on his time allowance, and that expired this off-season.

We’ve only got two more editions until the Jets face the Vikings, so let’s get going.