What could have been...

Edition #575

Good morning. ☕

Sam Darnold has been lamenting his time with the Jets, and it got me thinking about what could have been had the Jets decided to run it back with Sam instead of drafting their own QB. It’s all hindsight of course and Sam had a couple of inauspicious years in Carolina before landing as the San Francisco backup.

🏷️ PFF has been looking at franchise tag candidates for each team and surprisingly they don’t believe that Bryce Huff is a candidate. When you come to the Jets there is simply a single word “NONE”. However, there are some interesting names on the list as far as the Jets are concerned. Marquise Brown in Arizona, Tee Higgins in Cincinnati, Michael Pittman in Indianapolis and Kevin Dotson in LA. I imagine the Jets have all of those players at certain points on their FA list.

🫤 They also had a list of soon-to-be free-agent running backs and tight ends, and where they fit the best. Patriots free agent Hunter Henry was linked with the Jets: “The New York Jets look like they’ll move on from tight end C.J. Uzomah this offseason, and this represents a one-for-one swap with Henry joining Tyler Conklin and Jeremy Ruckert. New York had by far the worst red-zone touchdown rate in the NFL in 2023, and while Aaron Rodgers will go a long way toward fixing that, he gets a big-bodied target here for money downs.”

💥 NFL.com had an article outlining the key move for each franchise and unsurprisingly they had fixing the offensive line as the priority for the Jets. “I don't think "avoid asking Aaron Rodgers for roster input" is technically an offseason move, so we'll go with the obvious for New York. Gang Green's offensive line was woefully ineffective and injury-hampered in 2023. Alijah Vera-Tucker is the best player on the crew, but he played in just 12 combined games over the past two seasons and he's been moved around the line. Putting AVT at RT might make it easier to find overall depth in free agency, where solid tackles are hard to come by. Joe Tippmann had an up-and-down rookie year, but he's probably the Jets' center. Beyond that, how the O-line shakes out is anyone's guess, particularly if Laken Tomlinson ($18.9 million cap hit for 2024) is cut. All the free-agents-to-be have their foibles, whether related to age or inconsistency, but the plan for New York can't be the same as it was last year. The Jets should use their first-round pick (No. 10 overall) on an offensive tackle, a position where the draft is deep, but that can't be the only upgrade path for GM Joe Douglas. Otherwise, Rodgers might not make it through his first start again.”

⚪🔵 The 33rd Team had a new two-round mock draft out. At #10 they had the Jets taking Fashanu from Penn State: “The New York Jets are expected to have Aaron Rodgers at full health next season, and keeping him upright should be their No. 1 priority this offseason. Penn State OT Olu Fashanu provides the Jets with excellent value at a big position of need.”

🟢⚪ At one point Sam Darnold was hailed as the saviour, the franchise QB, the face of the franchise, the 21st-century Broadway Joe.

He recently spoke with Brian Costello of the NY Post about how he envisioned his first Super Bowl: