Darnold had a good game against the niners and got the win (and had some really nice throws as well) - I really hope he goes on to have a solid career, he was badly served by this franchise.
One option I wanted was keeping Darnold and with the #1 pick we got back taking Ja'mar Chase for Sam. Clearly, JJ is making a big difference.
Agreed. Most people on this forum felt Darnold never had an opportunity. We never were able to find out what he was because he didn't have an NFL roster around him. If Darnold had the roster Wilson had last year, I am positive he would have succeeded. The rest of the league fell asleep on him because of the negativity surrounding the Jets. I think this opportunity in Minnesota can be career changing for him and he has an opportunity to do serious damage to the league. Will be rooting for him except when we play the Vikings.
It's now becoming clear -- Geno Smith, Sam Darnold, other failures on other teams -- that it takes 5-7 years for some of these QB's to have the game "slow down" and be able to generate QB rankings consistently above 90, if not 100 or more. To remind some of you: Phil Simms, a Giant icon, lost his job to Scott Brunner in his 5th Year in Bill Parcells 1st year taking over for Ray Perkins. I realize that we are now supposed to fish-or-cut-bait by Year 3. But the evidence is RARELY that clear that soon. Teams are going to have to consider extending their QB's earlier at lower $$$....OR....letting them play it out and then pay up more if they hit it big (or rely on the Franchise Tag). I have no problem withe Geno Smith being let go....2nd Round Pick, attitude problems, didn't show much in his first few years, beaten out by Ryan Fitzpatrick. But Sam Darnold was ditched TOO SOON and while I don't expect Zach Wilson to be as good as Sam Darnold when he has 5 or 6 years under his belt, I still think he'll be a quality backup and/or an OK-to-better-than-average QB by 2026 or so. 30 or 40 or 50 years ago....NOBODY was ditching top-pick QB's after 3 years. Nobody !!!
and that he was traded to the one franchise that's run worse than the JETS... but there will be some potentially fun thread bumps coming if he keeps up this level of play
A lot of QBs do take time for sure. But I would have two counters: 1. You can’t compare the game to so long ago…there was no free agency then, the contracts were not what they are now, and it was a radically different game. That comparison is meaningless really. 2. Sure a lot of QBs take time, but we also have plenty of other examples of QBs who get it pretty quickly. Mahomes was great in year 2. So was Josh Allen. Joe Burrow. Lamar was very good though mostly because of his running, early. Plenty of guys who you can look at after 2 or 3 years and you already know. So while Geno is better now after 10 years, and Darnold is playing better as well, though he does continue to throw picks, I think the better conclusion to reach from these two examples is that the Jets have historically (and continue today) to NOT understand how to develop a rookie QB. The only guy we drafted high in the last 20 years or so to develop was Pennington. But we whiffed on Sanchez, Darnold, Geno, and Zach. The problem is in the mirror I think.
The answer with the Jets is always going to primarily be "it's not you it's me". It doesn't matter if it's Darnold, Zach, or the limited "upgrade" ceiling Rodgers is going to spend the year having within the LaFleur'less Hackett offense (which is probably what we saw yesterday in game we just squeaked by in vs a non-contender). A Jets lottery pick is basically a career death sentence for any QB on draft day. Been that way for a long while, and with no fix to that anywhere to be seen on the horizon. Just part of the reality of being the what is probably, and in terms of it's ability to consistently surround itself with more grandiose expectations, the least results driven franchise in professional sports. Good for Darnold. I was rooting for him on the split screen yesterday once I noticed they had a chance to off SF after the massive reality check "you are not on that level" L they handed us last week.
That's why I said to draft Chase in 2021. Then you would ABSOLUTELY know if it was the QB or lack of weapons.
They also used to draft QB’s and they stayed on the same team for 10 years regardless of what happened. I think it’s pretty evident within two years if a guy belongs in the NFL. Bryce Young is a good example of a guy that while not on a good team, looks like he doesn’t belong. Weak arm, not quick or fast enough to escape like he did in college, small, a bit frail, etc. The guys who look like they don’t belong (Zach Wilson as an example) usually don’t stick around the league for a decade as even a backup. Darnold always looked like he belonged, just needed some coaching. Geno is strange but he probably hung around the league long enough to get his journeyman opportunity because of his raw physical gifts.
The way I remember it, most people had seen enough of Sam Darnold and weren't willing to acknowledge the obvious lack of roster support he needed. All they seemed concerned about was that after three years, the Jets still had a losing record. There was a new contract that needed to be signed, and then there was the bright shining new star Wilson waiting in the wings to relieve us of our misery. I think most people on this forum were happy to see Sam depart.
Disagree I think most people realized the team needed a complete rebuild and as much as we wanted to find out what Darnold was with a real team, it was not going to happen anytime soon for him. At the end of the day it just is what it is. If Darnold stayed here, perhaps Douglas drafts the right pieces and it works out but perhaps it doesn't. I'm just happy he finally has a chance and seems to be taking advantage of it. If any team is going to regret losing him, it might be the 49ers. Time will tell but it may be way more painful for them then the Jets.
The evidence is really clear here actually. If a QB puts together 2 awful seasons to start his career, it's extremely unlikely he will ever become good. Literally like a 5% chance. This has been quantified. The smart move is always to cut bait after year 2. A QB here and there bucking the trend doesn't mean it's remotely likely. The smart thing to do is make personnel moves according to what usually happens, not praying for a miracle. I also don't even agree that Sam is suddenly good. He's put together 2 good games many times in his career. The issue has always been that he usually follows those up with a classic 3 INT game which kills any chance of winning.
I think Darnold got screwed here, but pretty sure we could pull up a thread from a few years ago how he was a good QB all of a sudden 2 games into his Panther career. I don't get this piece of football fans. I get the season is short so each game is magnified... But to have these declarations on skills, quality, whatever in two games is just dumb. It really doesn't matter if you end up being right if two games is what you're basing your opinion on.
Most people but not all. Some of us were quite vocal about keeping Sam and trading down in the draft.
And a very few of us proposed drafting a QB and keeping Darnold at the same time with the theory that competition would destroy nothing and bring out the best in them. Competition is healthy and is something every player lives with from the first day he picks up the ball.
I need to disagree here, at least with some of it. It's still football. Granted you are correct about FA and the contracts but that can be dealt with during the next CBA. But football is still football and the more everyone says it's a "passing league" the more teams, like the 49'ers, Eagles and Ravens "run" you to death. They just LIKE to convince you it's only a passing league. You listed 3 or 4 QB's, which isn't even a quarter of the league. MOST drafted QB's, 1st round or otherwise, need time. Heck, in 3 years these guys are just getting the damn verbiage down and that's IF you have the same flippin' O.C. every year! Some, like the aforementioned Bryce Young, while he may never amount to much, how do you tell because he's had three head coaches in a year and a half and lord knows how many different offensive philosophies. As well, those few QB's you mentioned only ONE has a SB. The others haven't won shit if you boil it down to what it's all about. No, in this day and age of "instant everything," teams burn through so many potentially good QB's that it's disgusting. Baker Mayfield is another great example. He lost 2 years of development because those morons in Cleveland thought it would be "cute" to bring in a guy that, not only couldn't play right away, but, now that he's actually playing all I hear is buyer's remorse. Why did they do this? Mayfield wasn't "progressing" as fast as they thought he should. Tampa will be the beneficiary of that but did it have to be that way? Of course, this ENTIRE diatribe goes out the window for the NY Jets. Doesn't matter what era of football they are in, they haven't been able to develop jack squat...ever. Pennington was the closest but he came so "pro ready" it's not funny. That coupled with the limited gifts. Lord, if that kid had the arm of Darnold....geeeezzzzz...the battles he and Brady could have had. Oh well... I'm just hoping they do more winning that losing this year. That's about all I can ask for right now. Anything else would be highly unrealistic.
Part of the Darnold question for the Jets also involves WHY we were so damn high on Zach Wilson, who 95% of us never heard of before late-2020. Did ANYBODY here know about him in Fall 2019 pre-Covid ?
