a full year includes an off-season, especially for a gm ... you know that of course he supported gase to the media, what else was he supposed to do? you have no idea what he petitioned for behind the scenes first and second round picks are about the present and the future how did he make the offense worse? the receiving group was downgraded for sure, but the oline was vastly improved. rb was a wash. the qb was bad and had been bad before douglas arrived he dealt darnold to save money on the cap and get value back while some still existed. you were willing to keep mac, but you’re hyper critical of douglas make it make sense
Douglas was 2 full seasons, 32 games with Gase. He did miss the 2019 draft, but had the rest of the offseason to work with him as well. If he didn't know he was toxic, that's on him. The moves he made suggested to me he genuinely supported Gase (Gore, Bell). Second round picks aren't really about the present, as we saw with Mims. Darnold needed 2020 help in the worst way, and there was simply no urgency to get him anything outside of T. Douglas upgraded the OT positions, but downgraded both G positions. Osemele, Winters, Harrison > Lewis, Van Roten, Andrews. How is Lewis even still on the roster? WR was as big a miss as signing Kalil. RB was also downgraded, replacing Bell, Montgomery and Powell for Gore, an uninspiring rookie, and some UDFA's. How did any of this help Darnold? It didn't. He pretty much ended any chance Darnold had of succeeding here, and now we blowing more valuable draft capital on QB....again. Douglas deserves criticism, as did Mac. Fans like to make out that the old guard was all bad, while the new guard is all roses. Truth is there have been some good and bad moves made by both. With Mac there was more than enough bad to move on, but that doesn't mean everything he did was bad. I do still like Douglas as the GM for the job, even though I feel fan's are giving him a complete pass for the worst season of football I've ever witnessed. Becton was a huge hit, I really like the Saleh signing, and I like the commitment to scouting. I also like how he signs FA to deals he can get out of in 2 years (like Mac also did as i referenced above). This roster is STILL very lackluster though, and I don't think he's done enough to support Darnold, nor the inbound Wilson. How can he be above reproach with a team this bad?
I'm not going to hope that he plays poorly, but neither am I going to wish he plays well. It will be what it will be. He seems like a great kid, and handled all of this with professionalism and maturity, and I wish him the best in life, but I'd be lying if I said I thought he would do well or will go on to become a quality QB. I hope that he stays injury free and gets good coaching. He deserves it. He needs all the help he can get.
I'm absolutely rooting for him. He came here and did everything that was asked of him and was given absolutely no help by the organization. Two terrible head coaches, two terrible OCs, never had the luxury of having a QB coach to help him learn the pro game, and so on and so on. He was surrounded by ineptitude in every aspect of the organization and never complained, always had Gase's back (perhaps to a fault), and carried himself the way you'd want a guy who is leading your franchise to carry himself. I hope he does well in Carolina, and I believe that he will.
I'm already looking forward to 2 weeks of over the top pre-superbowl hype when the Jets square off against the Panthers in a couple of years. <<< tongue in cheek
Sam Darnold is a cow on ice. But fortunately there's no ice in Carolina so he should do pretty well! Plus any ghosts he sees will be wearing Civil War uniforms, which he would never confuse for Patriot uniforms so he should be all set to light the place up. I hope Sam plays well....he deserves at least one good season.
If Darnold succeeds it's just further confirmation that Gase was the biggest coaching mistake in Jets history, and that's a hell of a history - and I mean HELL. Darnold, however, doesn't get a complete pass from me though because I never saw much of a spark, much less the raging fire in the belly I want to see from the on field leader. I remember the time in 2019 when Darnold supposedly went and confronted Gase about getting on the same page as far as the game plans and protection were concerned but although both claimed it was a good experience we never saw anything like it happen again and Gase seemed to become even more controlling and less communicative in 2020 with nary a response from the QB. I want a quarterback assertive enough that nobody could get away with that crap when they were losing every game.
I don’t wish him any bad karma, he was a class act while he was a Jet and behaved like a professional even though things were as bad as they were. The bottom line is he’s still not a good QB, and contributed to a poor result on the field. Everyone wants to put all the blame on Gase but at the end of the day, Darnold was still overthrowing wide open receivers, still has bad footwork, still has difficulty making correct reads and throws to receivers that are covered. Will not surprise me one bit if he simply doesn’t get it done in Carolina even though they have more offensive talent than Jets currently have.
I like the guy personally - nice kid, never caused any problems and quite frankly the organization did Darnold wrong. Bad OL, no playmakers, horrible coaching. I can’t root against him. However I hope the Panthers as a team struggle - it means better draft positioning next year.
He might have some success but I think he will eventually wear out his welcome there too... turning over the ball is a big problem he has never been able to fix at any level
The kid never stood a chance here. It was some of the worst decisions made by an organization for a new QB I may have ever seen In my lifetime. Not only did they not help him with talent at WR, RB, and OL. They also paired him with the class act failure In Adam Gase to boot. Why anyone would be rooting against this kid, who handled It all with class, even at the end, Is beyond me. I hope Sam lights up the NFL and further highlights just how awful our Owners and Organization have been for us fans.
Sounds like sour grapes to me. It almost looked like they were trying to ruin him with how poorly they built the team around Sam.
is that even possible? The team will do as well as Sam does so i hope he shits the bed and we get a very high 2nd round pick in the draft.
How well Darnold does does not reflect on JD. There were other things that made the trade worth making, like the three picks & the fact that they are resetting the QB time scale back to year 1. I think it more reflects on how bad a HC Gase was. Now we have GM, HC, & QB all set for the next 5 years. The next 5 years will determine how good the team is run not if Darnold does well...which I expect he will. The trade was a win for NYJ, CP, & Sam.
This is the real answer, as it relates to the Jets. If Zach Wilson plays great for the Jets, it really doesn't matter how good Sam Darnold is for the Panthers. Now if Wilson is bad, and Sam is great, then that would be obviously terrible. I get what the OP is saying though, but of course I wish Sam nothing but the best and I truly think he will succeed in Carolina. However, if Sam does play terrible, the Jets still look bad by wasting two 2nd round picks and trading up to #3 overall to draft a bust. If he plays well in Carolina, at least that original decision looks a little better. You can look at it either way.
I don't hold any ill-will for Sam. He seems like a good kid. But if he turns into a really good QB, it will be a serious black mark against JD's player evaluation skills. It would be very SOJ for Wilson to come in and bust while Sam does a 180 and settles into a long and productive career. So... I'm not hoping he continues to struggle in Carolina, but it would at least mean JD made the right call.
Deshaun Watson had an unbelievable year last year and yet the Texans would’ve had the #3 pick, had they not traded it away. It’s definitely possible.