Will Jets' new hope (Sam Darnold) be better than old one (Mark Sanchez)?

[Gas2No99]

Will Jets' new hope (Sam Darnold) be better than old one (Mark Sanchez)?

 

The Sam Darnold-Mark Sanchez comparisons run deep. What makes the Jets think that this USC first-round quarterback will be their franchise QB?

 

This week's New York Jets mailbag focuses on a couple of first-round quarterbacks, past and present:

 

I went back and read the post-draft reviews of Sanchez, and they were almost identical to those of Darnold. What exactly separates these players? High ceiling, limited experience, had some “it” qualities, and cool demeanor. Asking for a friend. #jetsmail

 

 

@RichCimini: This is a fair question, Daniel, because as I noted in a story on Day 2 of the draft, the Sam Darnold-Mark Sanchez comparisons run deep. One thing I forgot to mention in that story: Their signature wins at USC both came against Penn State in the Rose Bowl. Talk about eerie.

So what separates them? Maybe nothing; it's too early to say Darnold will be better than Sanchez, the Jets' first-round pick in 2009. There are so many factors that have an impact on a quarterback's career, some of which are out of his control. For now, though, we can point to a few things that might lead to separation.

Despite his relative lack of experience, Darnold actually played more in college than Sanchez, who arrived with only 16 starts and 487 pass attempts on his resume. Darnold had 24 starts and 846 attempts.

Both players were turnover-prone in college, but a closer examination shows that Sanchez (one interception every 30.4 attempts) struggled with it more than Darnold (38.5). Sanchez never fixed that problem at the NFL level.

We also can look to some intangible reasons. ESPN draft analyst Todd McShay, responding to a question about the so-called USC quarterback curse, said recently that former college stars Sanchez and Matt Leinart "were overrated because they had so much around them. That’s when USC was rolling. Some of the best rosters in the history of college football were when those guys were there."

McShay doesn't believe that applies to Darnold, who lost wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and three offensive linemen to the NFL after the 2016 season. Darnold played with a weaker supporting cast in 2017, although I must say Ronald Jones was a heck of a running back for the Trojans.

 

From personal observation, I believe Darnold is a more instinctive player than Sanchez. I watched almost every USC game last fall, start to finish. When a play went off script, which happened more often than not, Darnold showed the ability to make something positive. That was always an issue with Sanchez, in my opinion.

That said, Sanchez showed promise early in his career, but the organization sabotaged him by changing offensive coordinators, surrounding him with head-case receivers such as Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress and later trading for Tim Tebow. (I still can't figure out the Tebow move.) If Sanchez had a chance to develop into the long-term answer, it was ruined by the organization's lack of support. Any shot at redemption was killed in 2013, when he got thrown into the fourth quarter of a preseason game and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

That was a couple of regimes ago, but maybe Todd Bowles & Co. can learn a lesson from past mistakes. If you have a young talent at quarterback, do everything you can to nurture him. If Darnold has a chance to develop in a stable environment, he will stick around a lot longer than Sanchez did.

[Patriot Killa]

14 minutes ago, Gas2No99 said:

That was a couple of regimes ago

Lol that was actually last regime...

[SAR I]

Darnold would have to play exceedingly well to eclipse what Sanchez did in his first 3 seasons. 

I don't think it's fair to make that the expectation.

SAR I

[Bruce Harper]

Look at each of their college tape and tell me that Darnold isn't a much better player.  

[Gas2No99]

Passing - Mark Sanchez 2009-2011

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	QBR	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%	4QC	GWD	AV
2009	23	NYJ	QB	6	15	15	8-7-0	196	364	53.8	2444	12	3.3	20	5.5	65	6.7	4.9	12.5	162.9	63.0	34.8	26	195	5.77	4.07	6.7			6
2010	24	NYJ	QB	6	16	16	11-5-0	278	507	54.8	3291	17	3.4	13	2.6	74	6.5	6.0	11.8	205.7	75.3	51.6	27	171	5.84	5.38	5.1	3	5	9
2011	25	NYJ	QB	6	16	16	8-8-0	308	543	56.7	3474	26	4.8	18	3.3	74	6.4	5.9	11.3	217.1	78.2	44.1	39	243	5.55	5.05	6.7	4	4	9

[Bruce Harper]

9 minutes ago, Gas2No99 said:

Passing - Mark Sanchez 2009-2011

Year	Age	Tm	Pos	No.	G	GS	QBrec	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Lng	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Y/G	Rate	QBR	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%	4QC	GWD	AV
2009	23	NYJ	QB	6	15	15	8-7-0	196	364	53.8	2444	12	3.3	20	5.5	65	6.7	4.9	12.5	162.9	63.0	34.8	26	195	5.77	4.07	6.7			6
2010	24	NYJ	QB	6	16	16	11-5-0	278	507	54.8	3291	17	3.4	13	2.6	74	6.5	6.0	11.8	205.7	75.3	51.6	27	171	5.84	5.38	5.1	3	5	9
2011	25	NYJ	QB	6	16	16	8-8-0	308	543	56.7	3474	26	4.8	18	3.3	74	6.4	5.9	11.3	217.1	78.2	44.1	39	243	5.55	5.05	6.7	4	4	9

Those numbers are pretty darn mediocre.  I hope Darnold does better than that.

[The Crusher]

31 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Darnold would have to play exceedingly well to eclipse what Sanchez did in his first 3 seasons. 

I don't think it's fair to make that the expectation.

SAR I

Whew... good thing he is only 20 and has bout 15 + years to do it. 

[Joe W. Namath]

Darnold is twice the prospect Sanchez was.  Its not even close.

[BurnleyJet]

35 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Darnold would have to play exceedingly well to eclipse what Sanchez did in his first 3 seasons. 

I don't think it's fair to make that the expectation.

SAR I

 

[varjet]

29 minutes ago, Bruce Harper said:

Look at each of their college tape and tell me that Darnold isn't a much better player.  

Likely true, but Sanchez joined a much better team 

[Joejet]

53 minutes ago, SAR I said:

Darnold would have to play exceedingly well to eclipse what Sanchez did in his first 3 seasons. 

I don't think it's fair to make that the expectation.

SAR I

If you are talking about team results I agree that Darnold will have a difficult time matching the playoff results.  If you are speaking about personal passing statistics I believe that Darnold can exceed those.

[Mike Battle]

Mark Sanchez=Kyle Boller-- I posted that 7 yrs ago and was banned LOL--a lot of the same AHs are still here of course .

[Bleedin Green]

That seems like a lot of words to say "yes"

[Long Island Leprechaun]

Sanchez was not even close to ready to be thrown into the fire when he came to the Jets. Let's hope this regime does not force Darnold on the field too soon unless he clearly shows he's ready for the big stage. That being said, Darnold seems to me to be significantly better than Mark Sanchez as a talent. Sanchez wilted under NFL pressure -- that deer in the headlights look became his signature.

[Patriot Killa]

34 minutes ago, BurnleyJet said:

 

He’s dead serious. This is SAR we are talking about. Sanchez can do no wrong.

[Bleedin Green]

1 hour ago, Gas2No99 said:

That said, Sanchez showed promise early in his career, but the organization sabotaged him by changing offensive coordinators, surrounding him with head-case receivers such as Santonio Holmes and Plaxico Burress and later trading for Tim Tebow. (I still can't figure out the Tebow move.) If Sanchez had a chance to develop into the long-term answer, it was ruined by the organization's lack of support. Any shot at redemption was killed in 2013, when he got thrown into the fourth quarter of a preseason game and suffered a season-ending shoulder injury.

This paragraph is absolutely ridiculous in so many ways.  I hated the Tebow move with every fiber of my being, but trying to use that as an excuse for Sanchez's incompetence is one of the single dumbest arguments that could be made.  And we're talking about "a shot at redemption" in his 5th freakin' year, after they drafted his replacement?  Give me a break.  Is it really that hard to hold someone responsible for their own failures?

[Kleckineau]

While Sanchez has set the bar pretty low we cant say for sure how Sam will fare with this present team. Oh and please let me add that since we want to compare Sanchez to a QB currently on the roster, I would point out that Hackenberg, slim as it may be, has a better chance of becoming a productive starter somewhere in the league than Sancho does.

[Patriot Killa]

19 minutes ago, Mike Battle said:

Mark Sanchez=Kyle Boller-- I posted that 7 yrs ago and was banned LOL--a lot of the same AHs are still here of course .

Wonderful way to use your clean slate to your advantage. Call people As$holes from 7 years ago.

Dope sh!t. 

[Untouchable]

1 hour ago, Bruce Harper said:

Those numbers are pretty darn mediocre.  I hope Darnold does better than that.

They’re sh*t

It’s nuts that the Jets made it as far as they did in ‘09/‘10 with such a hindrance at QB.

If Favre would’ve stayed instead of bolting to Minnesota, there’s no doubt in my mind that we would’ve won at least one Super Bowl.

[Larz]

Put Darnold on playoff ready teams and Sanchez on this team and is this even a question? 

No it is not 

[Adoni Beast]

Sanchez was never a top 3 talent who was being considered as the first pick by every team not in Cleveland. 

His ceiling was Alex Smith, with a basement of what we got.

[Bruce Harper]

Not a single person thought that Sanchez was the best QB in that draft.  And a lot of people thought he went too high at 5.  His own college coach said he wasn't ready to be a pro.  None of those things apply to Darnold.

[Jetscreen]

For face value of the question,  I'd say YES. Things ended exceptionally poorly with butt fumble. Would really care not to re-live those days. 

[Jetmech]

New flash Sanchez still sucks and his extension should've never happened.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

[pointman]

Sanchez is a bum. We got to where we did in 09 and 10 because of headcase Holmes, and other guys like Braylon despite Sanchez. If we had a slightly less crappy QB in 2010 we had a legitimate shot at hoisting the big one. Bringing in guys like Holmes and Plax didn't ruin Sanchez, he was always going to be what he is now. We extended his time being a starter, didn't hinder it. Darnold was talked about as being the best thing since Luck, so hopefully he is miles better than Sanchez, even if we aren't stacked like we were in 2010.

[Charlie Brown]

1 hour ago, Bruce Harper said:

Not a single person thought that Sanchez was the best QB in that draft.  And a lot of people thought he went too high at 5.  His own college coach said he wasn't ready to be a pro.  None of those things apply to Darnold.

Thank you.....

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

There were about five people who didn't think Sanchez was the bees knees when we were winning playoff games and I know who the other four were. You guys are great at being right about things five years after it matters.

[Maxman]

7 minutes ago, Miss Lonelyhearts said:

There were about five people who didn't think Sanchez was the bees knees when we were winning playoff games and I know who the other four were. You guys are great at being right about things five years after it matters.

I wonder if the other four accounts are actually four different people though.

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

7 minutes ago, Maxman said:

I wonder if the other four accounts are actually four different people though.

Other four accounts. Yes. Good. Four. Let's go with that.

[Maxman]

Just now, Miss Lonelyhearts said:

Other four accounts. Yes. Good. Four. Let's go with that.

Whenever you can please answer my question in the other thread.

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

6 minutes ago, Maxman said:

Whenever you can please answer my question in the other thread.

Pretty confident in our lousy read, are we?

[ryu79]

Darnold is a different kind of prospect (used to be a linebacker, takes contact and moves very well in the pocket) to Mark. That said, there are lessons to be learned from the debacle of how the Jets handled Sanchez.

Early on Mark did show flashes, especially in big games, he did well in those playoff games - was tough in the win over the Patriots. Sure, he benefited from being on a talented team but he elevated his play vs. regular season in those games early in his career. He really did have no one (as did Geno Smith btw) to throw the ball to at the end and he did get hit a ton. I remember his final series with the Jets it looked like he had PTSD and could barely take a snap clean. That can never happen with Sam - we need to take care of this kid.

 

[Maxman]

2 minutes ago, Miss Lonelyhearts said:

Pretty confident in our lousy read, are we?

I have no idea what you mean. I don't know much about much, but the things that I know, I do know. Hope that clears it up.

[Miss Lonelyhearts]

3 minutes ago, Maxman said:

I have no idea what you mean. I don't know much about much, but the things that I know, I do know. Hope that clears it up.

Perhaps I have no idea what you mean. I thought you were referring to the thread where you were talking about multi-accounting. What question in what thread?

[slimjasi]

2 hours ago, Bruce Harper said:

Not a single person thought that Sanchez was the best QB in that draft.  And a lot of people thought he went too high at 5.  His own college coach said he wasn't ready to be a pro.  None of those things apply to Darnold.