Most QB's bust, even highly drafted ones. Busting is the norm, not the exception. The Jets have just been terrible at drafting QB's. They haven't "ruined" any of them. Darnold is the strongest case you can make for them "ruining" one and even that doesn't hold water because his flaws in the NFL are exactly the same flaws he had in college, just amplified.
Unless JD screws the pooch, I think he will fix the OL and build around Wilson. We'll see how good LaFleur's coaching is, and if they have less problems with injuries this season. If Wilson doesn't pan out, it was because he didn't have the right mind set, wasn't able to adjust his playing style and dampen his aggressiveness or because he suffers a career- ending injury. I'm not worried about either. He lives for football, wants to be great, is smart and very talented. I think at the very least he will be a solid starter, but I think he has the potential to be a FQB, a top 5-10 QB and re-write the Jets' record book for QBs.
You're starting from a place of flawed logic. Franchises "ruining" prospects is very rare. Most guys just suck and there's nothing any franchise can do to stop it. Busting is the norm. David Carr situations happen but again, they're the exception. Playing QB in the NFL is really fucking hard. Most of the best college QB's can't do it. Wilson may very well bust, in fact it's probably more likely than not. It won't be because the Jets "ruined" him though. It'll be for reasons that are mainly Wilson's fault, if it does happen.
The only way I think the Jets could ruin Wilson would be to put him in some offensive scheme that didn't fit his talents, then try to totally change his style of play and throwing motion not allowing him to throw from various angles or off platform. The thing is if they don't want a QB like that, then they should draft a QB who does those things. I don't think JD, LaFleur and Saleh would do any of those things, and those things are part of what they like about Wilson. So yes, I think he is unruinable. If he fails, it will be because the Jets misjudged his ability/talent. I'd say the same thing if they drafted Fields. Unless a team tries to fit a square peg into a round hole and asks the QB to do things that aren't his strength and playing styles, and play in a system for which he doesn't fit, then a team cannot ruin a player. The player just wasn't the right player for their system and the team should not have drafted him.
You could have just said yes he can not be ruined. Whether you believe in the logic or not, it’s a very common excuse among fans. Becoming a bust is a whole separate conversation which I was not having but am willing to discuss if we want to switch to that.
Any QB could be ruined, even the all mighty Justin Fields. Could you imagine him playing for the Jets last year! He probably would have been sacked more times than Sam, especially when all the receivers were injured. His first read would never have been open and it would have been Fucksville for him.
I don’t think Mahomes could have ruined. Also if Darnold was ruined, it wasn’t by sacks. If Fields is ruined by sacks, then he’s soft and not who I think he is. There are quite a few good QBs that get sacked a lot like Russell, Allen and Watson to name a few.
It wouldnt have been just sacks. Most likely a lot of INT's and incompletions to go with the sacks. And an offense that was bad as it was with Sam, if not worse.
I like that Joe is using "first-class" a lot lately. BYU is a first class program... Sam is a first class guy....
NC thanks for posting the articles.. it confirmed for me that JD (even if some of his moves didn't work out) is the right man for the Jets. After years of incompetent' buffoons' as GMs, its refreshing. Having said that, he does need to have, IMHO, a very good draft after the second selection. Also, just as important is the CS. If these guys turnout to be - not so good - then we are in for more pain. I don't believe that but my moniker isn't "SOJ-AZ" for nothing. We'll see....
“It was a clear-cut top two quarterbacks for us,” Douglas says. “And there was a consensus. At that point, we felt good about our options..." "we just don’t feel comfortable, in case something happens with one of the top two guys, we don’t want to get caught in a bad situation, like one of two guys fails a physical and then we don’t have Sam." “Even though the box isn’t fully checked,” Douglas says. “We’ve been able to gather a lot more information.” "I don’t know how every team approaches a quarterback [evaluation], but I’ve always thought it was a golden rule—you don’t ever take a quarterback until you stand near or next to a guy and watch him throw the football. None of the top brass were able to get out to a BYU game this year...To me, that’s huge for a quarterback.” “Almost every pro day I went to I got something out of,” Douglas says. “Does the ball drop at all at the end of the throw, is it accelerating through the guy’s hands? You really get a sense for that, that you wouldn’t normally see on tape.” Throughout draft season, Douglas, Saleh and LaFleur held Zoom meetings not just with the Top 5 quarterbacks, but pretty much the entire class at the position, which allowed the Jets to fire football-specific questions at the guys—What was your progression here? What were your checks at the line? What was your call in the huddle? Incredibly good article, thanks a lot NC. It's interesting that Jets from the beginning identified 2 QBs, which looks to be Trevor and Zach, but couldn't pull the trigger on Sam until they got medicals for Zach and saw him throw. This explains why all 3 of them showed up, even though Saleh is about to have a child. Also this confirms once and for all that Pro Day is actually very important, and there is a lot of pressure on the guys to perform. It's good to know there is has been consensus among Jets brass on Zach from the beginning, and then it was solidified.
interesting....I don’t know that Allen has worked any harder than Darnold. In fact, all I’ve heard is that Darnold is a hard worker. It may be true, but I haven’t seen anything anywhere that implied Sam was lackadaisical or lazy or not working hard. I think Allen has had worlds better coaching and talent around him...his OL has been better, his receivers better, but certainly his coaches have been worlds better than Bowles and Gase. Allen may have more natural talent than Darnold....bigger stronger faster etc. but I haven’t heard that he worked harder...
