And OFF WE GO! 1. Sam Darnold QB USC (6’4 225) RS Sophomore This very well may be it folks, by this time next season we should FINALLY have our franchise savior. Its been a long time coming for Jets fans missing out on Peyton Manning in 97 staying for his senior year, Trading out of the first round in ‘05 to draft Mike Nugent when Aaron Rodgers went the pick before our selection in the 1st to recently in '15 grabbing Calvin Pryor ahead of Derek Carr, time and time again the Jets have misfired but finally it looks to changing due to the extreme lack of talent on the team. We may have no hope and tank job seems to be in place. THANK GOD! On to Darnold, its too early to say but Darnold seems to be on the level of Andrew Luck as a prospect. Some think even potentially better, now Luck maybe isn't the Peyton Manning esque prospect we thought he'd be by his year 6 but i think that has more to do with the Colts then him at this point. Darnold is an ELITE level prospect with few flaws and all the traits to be the #1 overall player. Size, mobility, pocket presense, arm strength, he's more of an athlete than he looks and u here it repeatedly that he just has “it”. The intangibles what sometimes seems to be whats most important for a QB, and football character which has seemingly played a lot into who the Jets select the past 3 seasons. The one knock may be his delivery which is long but he's stated that was his biggest task to work on this offseason and seeing a couple reps at the spring game it seems to be improved. 2. Mitch Hyatt OT Clemson (6’5 305) Junior Freshmen All-American ’15, All-ACC ’16, Hyatt probably at this point is a borderline 1st rounder, displaying all the tools to be a starting LT for a decade. This draft is better on lineman than last years and could have about 5 tackles drafted in the 1st. Hyatt has been tested and has a lot of experience at his time at Clemson he should be a solid pick as we need to rebuild this O-line. 3. Sony Michel RB Georgia (5’11 222) Senior Nick Chubbs running mate for the past couple of seasons Michel has been one of the more impressive backs in college during his time. Georgia team captain, former 5-star recruit, Michel has speed, cutting ability, power and doesn't have all the wear and tear most RBs have coming out of college because he has split time over the years. Sony has great pass catching ability as well and is compact enough to handle a 3 down role.
Darnold if he doesn't should have a lot more knocks than his throwing motion. I don't think he is 6-4 as listed. Maybe the following can be improved with shortening his throwing motion but as of now I have some serious concerns about his arm strength and accuracy, particularly his ball placement. USC runs a version of the WCO and throw a lot of short passes so his CMP% is deceiving in terms of accuracy. Another minor concern is his footwork from center as most of the plays I've seen him were from shotgun. Normally, I can tell if a guy won't have any issues under center by looking at his feet in shotgun but Darnold's feet are inconsistent and somewhat unorthodox. There's no denying the "it" factor, but is that enough?
well, darnold hasn't done too bad and after only a few weeks of ball, he is in the conversation for the top pick. very quick release, especially on the move. that is a separating type quality. at this point we have 3 picks in the first 2 rounds.....QB, LT, and OLB should rubber stamp this rebuild.
