Going into the 97 draft we had just made O'Donnell the highest paid QB in the league. More than Aikman, Elway, Mariano, etc. It was insane. O'Donnells second year was guaranteed and our cap was nearly maxed out. This created two problems for Manning. 1. How was he going to get the fat contract he wanted out of the broke Jets. 2. How was he going to justify starting over the highest paid QB in the league. Neither of these were Parcells fault. It was a situation he stepped into. Manning choose to avoid us - BP didn't choose to avoid him. He just played the hand that was dealt. If you want to blame someone for not getting Manning blame Kotite. He is the one that screwed us with Neil O'Donnell. (Almost the exact same situation occurs with Orlando Pace, except the overpaid player we had at right tackle didn't suck and anchored the position for years.)
If the Johnsons keep making the decisions, then you're probably right, but I have to hope that if nothing else, this season has taught them that they don't know what they're doing and should stop making decisions. They gave Douglas a 6-year contract for a reason. He is highly respected around the league. We all have to hope that he is indeed the right man for the job and that the Johnsons will step back and allow him to make the decisions. If they do, then I think there is a very good chance he could build a winner here; however, if some posters are right that Gase is in on the tank and Douglas and Gase see themselves as a team, and Douglas plans to bring Gase back, then all bets are off.
You are correct of course-- all we can do is hope. It doesn't really matter if we hope a star QB can magic the Jets into dynasty, or we can hope trading down for a haul of draft picks will set the stage for a new era... Either way, our hopes are going to be crushed.
The Jets havent developed a Qb in 50 years....They have had some seriviceable play and decent QBs here and there but not the Franchise QB.Its going to take the right coach to make Darnold or Trevor Lawrence the guy were looking for.I belive if a guy like Hardbaugh came in he could turn around Sam Darnolds carrer in one season.
