I think Darnold's next step is to take what the defense gives him, Bell surely will allow him to check down and hopefully that avoid the big hits, Romo took some big shots back then. Romo was a HOF talent at QB however.
If Darnold plays as long as Romo before breaking down that's a slam dunk home run. Romo was 24 when he came into the league and 26 when he started. He missed a few games in his third year starting because of a fractured pinky. That can happen to any QB. It wasn't until 2010 His 7th year in the NFL and 5th starting that he missed significant playing time. He came back to start 62 of the Cowboys next 64 games over 4 seasons. Montana had back surgery and came back to lead the Chiefs to the playoffs. Sam is pretty aware and didn't seem to take a lot of really hard hits last year in spite of enormous pressure. Injuries can happen without contact. It's a total crapshoot. Sam doesn't take off and run and put himself in position of taking tough hits on the run. As long as he's moving behind the LOS he's protected by the officials to some extent. Romo had his best year in 2014 when his back was a mess. Sam is much younger and the league is protecting QB's on the move way more than they were in Romo's earlier years.
I agree with Romo and you that Darnold has those traits/that ability, but that doesn't mean that Baker doesn't. Just because he didn't do it in one game doesn't mean anything. If I remember correctly, he was injured, and maybe had a concussion in that game. I saw plenty of games where he did do those things.
Darnold's last 4 games were better than Mayfield's whole season. I get Mayfield was better at first, but Darnold was much better by the end of the year. Rookie seasons don't mean squat though. Obviously both guys have developed chemistry with their current teams, so swapping them would be stupid on either side. It's too early to call one of them better than the other, they will both likely be good. I'm just glad the Jets don't have Josh Allen.
Fixed that for ya... If the Jets used all that trade up capital just to end up with Rosen, I think that might've been the final straw for me.
It's possible, since Murray's a more mobile QB, but I can't see any reason Rosen couldn't play spread if he actually has protection this year. I'm not comparing him to Tom Brady in skill, but Brady has been playing the spread for a while and he's not really that mobile, he's a pocket guy as well. I think Rosen can have success, but like any other pocket QB he needs protection. He was my #1 choice predraft last year, his accuracy was much better than Murray's coming out, plus Murray is shorter than Mayfield, so without big solid linesmen that open up lanes for him, he might struggle in the pass game, but I could see him excelling on rollouts and moving the pocket.
McVay said he would trade the farm for Mayfield, and he didn't say anything about Darnold. So is it theoretically possible he doesn't prefer Mayfield to Darnold? Sure, but I'm pretty confident he prefers Mayfield. And he said he'd sell the farm if he didn't have Goff. And I know there was a lot of spin about Mayfield. But then he had a terrific rookie season, which justified the spin.
That's sort of my point. If I didn't have Goff I would trade the farm for him is sort of a backhanded compliment. He does have Goff who isn't that good. I would move on from Goff for Darnold right now.
First of all, McVay can't say outright that he would dump Goff for Mayfield. That wouldn't go over well in the locker room. So instead he said if he didn't have Goff, he would trade a bunch of picks to move up for Mayfield. Having said that, I'm not sure McVay would trade Goff for Darnold straight up. Many coaches would I think, but McVay runs a spread offense and Darnold isn't a spread QB.
Last year I only wanted one of two players heading into the draft with our 1st round pick. Sam Darnold and Saquon Barkley. I wouldn't have it any other way. Sam Darnold is my pick and I'm sticking to it.
I agree with your post that Rosen can play in a spread and has huge upside potential with the right coaching and supporting cast. There is no indication that Rosen was more accurate than Murray coming out of college. Watching tape I would say Murray may be more accurate than Rosen. The big difference is can the NFL catch up to Murray's speed and can Rosen catch up to NFL speed. Rosen is a much better athlete than most people give him credit for. He has great balance and slides beautifully. The problem last year was the Cardinals had no coaching, no offensive line and very limited skill talent around him.
Goff has shown in a large sample the ability to accurately complete a lot of passes for a lot of yards without turning the ball over. Despite having more potential than Goff, Darnold has yet to show that.
my main problem with mayfield is i think he'll be too injury prone in years to come. he is too reckless running and trying to make plays plus he's on the small side. darnold, i believe, is much smarter about certain things, like running out of bounds, throwing the ball away, and other ways that shows he understands the importance of not taking stupid hits. both extremely talented though.
He hasn’t. What he’s shown is when he has more talent than the opposition he’s a good QB. In the playoffs against equal competition he has consistently underperformed. He may well be on the same trajectory as Blake Bortles.
I looked back at Goff's rookie year...he was worse than Darnold in almost every category. I know his coach sucked his 1st year in the league...so did ours. If Sam improves to the degree Jared did....well, that'd be swell.
I agree Goff has underperformed in the playoffs, but he isn't Blake Bortles. I don't think Bortles would succeed even in McVay's system, he isn't accurate enough. Goff's rookie year was worse than Darnold's. Darnold's rookie year was comparable to Wentz's. But Darnold still has to make the jump, and not all QBs do.
I'm confident that Sam will make that jump...and then some. The Jets (finally) are putting some effort into supporting the QB position. Mark Sanchez says ..."It's about fucking time!"
I know none of you want to acknowledge this, but the real comparison is not Mayfield v. Darnold, its Darnold v. Allen. Mayfield is in a class of his own after one year, and the stats on Darnold v. Allen are incredibly (and more) similar. Their styles and offenses were different the first year, the jets threw the ball more and Darnold had way more attempts (and one more game). That makes it pointless to look at pass yardage. But when they both threw the ball, their avg was basically the same (6.5 and 6.9). Darnold had a better completion percentage (although neither was good, both in the 50s%). Allen had more big plays. Allen had the better TD/TO ratio, although they were very similar. Allen 18 total touchdowns/14 total turnovers Darnold 18 total touchdowns/17 total turnovers I am interested to watch this year because I don't believe the Bills will run the same offense. Their porous offensive line (which started Vlad Ducasse, Wyatt Teller, Ryan Groy and Jordan Mills) and lack of talent at WR (they started undrafted free agent Robert Foster, Zay Jones and Isaiah McKenzie who they picked off a practice squad mid-year) really hamstrung what they could do, and forced them to run the ball and left Allen scrambling for his life when they tried to throw. With the upgraded OL signings and WR signings in free agency, I bet their offense looks different. I think both are going to be good QB's. It should be fun to watch the development. But right now, Darnold/Allen is the comparison, not Darnold/Mayfield. Sorry to break your heart.
