I will die on the hill that Sam Darnold is good and that if we had just drafted Penei Sewell (instead of Wilson), they both would have started for us for a decade.
Why? Because we drafted him, he supposedly "flamed" out here so now he can't be good somewhere else? I don't even count the Panthers. That organization is worse run than ours...and that's saying something. You're right, the Giants are a bottom 3 organization in the league and the Vikings obliterated them. Just what a good team SHOULD do to a bottom 3 team. I would have been agreeing with you had the Vikings won by 3. No, I'll bet Darnold has the Vikings in the playoffs if the team stays healthy. GB will not recover from Love's injury in time, Chicago is a year or two away so it's just they and the Lions.
Darnold could have started for us for a decade had they decided to keep him, but given how this current regime has handled the O-line and QB situations, I'm not sure that he would have fared that much better than he did under Gase. He would be better, for sure, but the current group that is running this franchise doesn't have much of a clue of how to support and develop a QB anymore than the previous one did.
Agreed. There's not a Jets fan alive who doesn't know this team is just absolutely abhorrent at developing QB's. I have no idea why it just is what it is.
Most of these QB's leave college too young and too inexperienced. Athletic? Sure. But most are too young, not ready, and need a few years minimum. Zach Wilson is practically the same age as Bo Nix, so even Zach might get it together in 2026. I hope we stop drafting 20 year olds and then put the fate of the team on their shoulders.
Darnold was Darnold. A couple hundred yards and a 2/1 TD/Int. Some weeks it’ll be 1/2 TD/INT, some weeks 0/0. He’s a middle road guy, probably one of the best backups to have in the league, and right around 20-25th ranked starter.
He was a bit better than the stat book indicates though. He started out 12/12 and made a lot of big time sideline throws. It was inevitable that he was going to end up playing well somewhere in a Shanahan coaching tree. He’s built for that system and he’s always had a big boy arm. Sam just needs to avoid getting hit too much. The seeing ghosts comment couldn’t be more indicative of his whole career here - he feels pressure when it’s not there when he gets pushed around early in games.
The Vikings provide an honest evaluation of Darnold's talent by actually putting him in a scenario with talented players. We will know for sure if he has a future in the league.
Yeah, that Giants team is terrible too to bottom. I'm not gonna get too excited about that. At the end of the day in what was probably his best career game he threw for 208 and 2/1. His best game ever….. and it was against the Giants. I stand by my statement, he’s 20-25 range in ranking as a starter and that’s probably where he’ll stay.
Why would we root against Darnold? It wasn’t his decision to leave the Jets…. Take it up with Joe Douglas who thought Zach Wilson was a better idea I hope Darnold has a resurgence and plays awesome in Minnesota
I always thought the Jets failed Darnold. They routinely failed to surround him with anything of value. I would have loved to see him drafted to play with the Jets current roster. I think we'd see a much different player. Good to see him doing well.
Exactly. I liked Darnold. He was just one of those kids who needed a little time and it really looked good for him towards the end of his rookie season putting together a nice string of games. Then Adam Gase happened....then mono...then covid which disrupted 2020 training camp. They had terrible players around him..... Darnold may never fully recover from his Jets experience but yesterday did show a glimpse of what he can do with good protection. He always had the size, big arm, and decent footwork. The Jets should have simply kept him in 2021 and dealt that #2 pick for a bonanza..... we'll never know how that could have turned out.
He showed flashes here (looked better his rookie year than Zach ever did)... and he never had any surrounding talent. Of course he got worse as the roster around him did as well. Not saying he'll be a star, but the bounty that the #2 pick could've brought in.... (not to mention avoiding all the cesspool threads that followed). I guess you have to know what to look for....
