Is Sam Darnold the Jets savior?

[joewilly12]

 

Is Sam Darnold the Jets’ savior?

By Mike Vaccaro

July 28, 2020 | 6:19pm

 

 

The 2020 NFL season will be an intricate challenge even for a team steeped in tradition and excellent football culture, even for a club with a habit for victory, even for a group not experiencing turmoil with a key member of the roster, even for a franchise not trying to learn if its franchise quarterback of the future is also it’s starting quarterback of the present.

BREAKING NEWS: The Jets fall into none of those categories.

As they report for the soft start of training camp this week, for a long season of re-acclimation to football activity and a recalibration of what daily life inside the league is going to be like in the time of COVID-19, they enter a 52nd straight year without an appearance in the Super Bowl. Only the Lions — who have never been to the big game and enter the season at 63 years since a league title-game appearance — have experienced a longer run of futility (unless you choose to count the title-free-since-’64 Browns and conveniently forget that while they own the old Cleveland history, they’re actually an expansion team).

The Jets haven’t had a winning season in five years. They have had one in the last nine. They have … well, you get it. Not a lot of winning around here for a bit.

And then there is Sam.

And of all the things that beguile the Jets this season, defining who Sam Darnold is, and what he can be, was always going to be the most important story to track. It is no mystery who rules the roost in the NFL, but in case anyone had been sleeping on it, Kansas City devoted half a billion dollars — that’s with a “b” — to Patrick Mahomes and hardly anyone batted an eye because, well, Mahomes is awfully good and, more to the point, he guided the Chiefs to the championship in February.

Enlarge Image  

(And thereby removed themselves from that list of championship-free teams, where for decades they stood but one skinny year under the Jets on the catalogue of calamity.)

The Jets want to believe Darnold is the kind of rare talent who they can build such aspirations around, and it isn’t lapsing into hyperbole to say that they need him to become the kind of franchise pillar they haven’t had since Joe Namath was 26 years old. The Jets have had temporary valves of hope through the years — Ken O’Brien and Chad Pennington; Mark Sanchez; even a late-in-the-game Vinny Testaverde.

And look: Guys like Drew Brees and Tom Brady aren’t easy to get.

But there is belief that Darnold can be that kind of guy. On two dreadful teams thus far he has been better than his supporting cast, especially when fully healthy. The Jets were 7-6 on his watch last year. That is progress. But the Jets want more. They need more. They need to know. They need to truly believe.

Sam has to make them believe.

“I’m trying to work on continuing to learn the playbook, protections, route concepts, where to go if [options] one, two and three are covered,” Darnold said Tuesday on a Zoom call with reporters. “There is so much more I know now than at this time last year. I have a ton more confidence in myself.”

He added: “It’s definitely a process spent hours and hours trying to learn and I still have stuff to learn but I’m comfortable teaching the young guys and the guys who weren’t here before.”

Can the Jets’ long tradition of dysfunction be dissolved? Can Adam Gase discover a way to harness Darnold’s talent, engage him to the point where he maximizes his natural gifts, minimizes his occasional brain lapses and blossoms into a franchise-level performer? Can Jets GM Joe Douglas put pieces around him to help draw out that full potential — better pieces, if we are speaking bluntly, than the ones that presently surround him?

And can Darnold rise above the middling roster and do that for which a true franchise quarterback is capable: Make his teammates better than they are?

Look, Eli Manning spent some time throwing balls to Amani Toomer (one of the best receivers in Giants history) and some other time throwing to Odell Beckham Jr., who in spasms can be as gifted a receiver as there is. But he also threw a lot of balls though the years to a lot of pass-catchers who, frankly, became their best selves when Eli was throwing to them. Can Darnold do that now, with the options he has now?

Can he become that, in the event Douglas doesn’t immediately develop a Florham Park-to-Canton receiving pipeline? And can he simply be better than he’s been across two years and 26 games: an 11-15 record, 36 TDs to 27 picks, a rating of 81.1? In the best of situations and the most normal of years, the Jets would be hunting answers for those critical questions.

Neither is the case this year. And yet the Jets still want to know about Sam. They still need to know.

[nico002]

I’ve been a hard core fan of this team my entire life. If Sam Darnold doesn’t work out I’m ******* done.

[JohnnyLV]

Would a Charlize Theron/Scarlett Johanssen sex tape be sort of sexy?

 

I think you have your answer

[BigRy56]

He has to be

[GreekJet]

7 minutes ago, nico002 said:

I’ve been a hard core fan of this team my entire life. If Sam Darnold doesn’t work out I’m ******* done.

No you won’t. Players come and go, if Sam has a rough year this season fans will turn on him like Chicago turned on Mitch Trubisky-it’s par for the course. 
 

I will say if the Jets move on from Sam I hope they learn from their past mistakes and avoid the urge to trade a ton of draft capital to move up for a QB. I firmly believe a big part of the reason for Darnolds struggles is not having those 3 2nd round picks.

[nico002]

9 minutes ago, GreekJet said:

No you won’t. Players come and go, if Sam has a rough year this season fans will turn on him like Chicago turned on Mitch Trubisky-it’s par for the course. 
 

I will say if the Jets move on from Sam I hope they learn from their past mistakes and avoid the urge to trade a ton of draft capital to move up for a QB. I firmly believe a big part of the reason for Darnolds struggles is not having those 3 2nd round picks.

Yes I will. We haven’t sniffed a player like Darnold in 50 years. The hope of landing a player like Darnold was basically my motivation to stick with this POS franchise for as long as I have. If they **** this up I’m done. The comparison to Trubisky is laughable. 

[Jetsfan4life90]

1 minute ago, nico002 said:

Yes I will. We haven’t sniffed a player like Darnold in 50 years. The hope of landing a player like Darnold was basically my motivation to stick with this POS franchise for as long as I have. If they **** this up I’m done. The comparison to Trubisky is laughable. 

What if Darnold flames out, but the Jets were in position to draft Trevor Lawerence? 

[AL047]

IMO, Sam has to play a full season and not make any mistakes during games. That's what it will take for him to be the QB for the Jets. We all say currently he is the best QB but truthfully he hasn't really done much to prove it.

This is his chance and opportunity to prove that the Jets didn't make a mistake, No more blaming Gase now, its all him now!!!!

[SomebodytoAnybody47]

11 minutes ago, Jetsfan4life90 said:

What if Darnold flames out, but the Jets were in position to draft Trevor Lawerence? 

What if they weren’t in position??????

[nico002]

12 minutes ago, Jetsfan4life90 said:

What if Darnold flames out, but the Jets were in position to draft Trevor Lawerence? 

Wouldn’t give a sh*t 

[Beerfish]

Yes he could be but unfortunatley we have a terrible offensive coach coaching him.

[ryu79]

We shouldn't put that on him. Ideally, we can develop a run game and let him find his feet and let it come naturally.

[Jet hustle]

54 minutes ago, nico002 said:

Yes I will. We haven’t sniffed a player like Darnold in 50 years. The hope of landing a player like Darnold was basically my motivation to stick with this POS franchise for as long as I have. If they **** this up I’m done. The comparison to Trubisky is laughable. 

Good riddance dude.....

[Aaron Hernandez]

If he's not we're geared up to suck for another decade. I think he is

[Aaron Hernandez]

20 minutes ago, Jet hustle said:

Good riddance dude.....

You really mad at him? We all ******* hate this franchise more than any of our enemies and need to vent sometimes. If we could actually quit them, we all would have. Darnold and now Dougles are the hope we have. If Darnold busts, which he won't, it'll break me as well

[ljr]

Yes he is

We will at least continue to see his current trend upwards of

65% completion percentage, 4000 yards, 20TD’s, 10Int’s.


Sent from my iPhone using JetNation.com mobile app

[Spoot-Face]

[GreekJet]

5 hours ago, Jetsfan4life90 said:

What if Darnold flames out, but the Jets were in position to draft Trevor Lawerence? 

Unless the Jets finish with the #1 overall pick the only way they are sniffing Lawrence is if they trade away all the picks received from Seattle in addition to their 2022 first round pick plus probably more. Even if Darnold could become a league a average starter I think I’d rather roll with him and the draft picks than blowing the franchise up again for Lawrence. 

Is Lawrence a generational prospect? Perhaps, but it’s going to be tough to put a team around him during his rookie contract window without those picks. It’s a lot to ask of a 21-22 year old kid to carry a franchise on his back. 

 

[Lupz27]

8 hours ago, AL047 said:

IMO, Sam has to play a full season and not make any mistakes during games. That's what it will take for him to be the QB for the Jets. We all say currently he is the best QB but truthfully he hasn't really done much to prove it.

This is his chance and opportunity to prove that the Jets didn't make a mistake, No more blaming Gase now, its all him now!!!!

Find me a QB who never makes a mistake in a game, and I’ll show you a unicorn.

[Jet Nut]

9 hours ago, GreekJet said:

1.  No you won’t. Players come and go, if Sam has a rough year this season fans will turn on him like Chicago turned on Mitch Trubisky-it’s par for the course. 
 

2.  I will say if the Jets move on from Sam I hope they learn from their past mistakes and avoid the urge to trade a ton of draft capital to move up for a QB. I firmly believe a big part of the reason for Darnolds struggles is not having those 3 2nd round picks.

1.  Is totally true and is what being a fan of a team is all about

2.  Totally wrong, makes no sense.  Just because Sam didn't work out doesnt make moving up to get your QB or a prospect, rregardless wrong,  The idea is right, most players, prospects dont turn into PManning just because you want them to

[FidelioJet]

They got lucky to land him..and have done just about everything else wrong to support him since.

[Jet Nut]

For those who left their magnifiers home

 

FThe 2020 NFL season will be an intricate challenge even for a team steeped in tradition and excellent football culture, even for a club with a habit for victory, even for a group not experiencing turmoil with a key member of the roster, even for a franchise not trying to learn if its franchise quarterback of the future is also it’s starting quarterback of the present.

BREAKING NEWS: The Jets fall into none of those categories.

As they report for the soft start of training camp this week, for a long season of re-acclimation to football activity and a recalibration of what daily life inside the league is going to be like in the time of COVID-19, they enter a 52nd straight year without an appearance in the Super Bowl. Only the Lions — who have never been to the big game and enter the season at 63 years since a league title-game appearance — have experienced a longer run of futility (unless you choose to count the title-free-since-’64 Browns and conveniently forget that while they own the old Cleveland history, they’re actually an expansion team).

The Jets haven’t had a winning season in five years. They have had one in the last nine. They have … well, you get it. Not a lot of winning around here for a bit.

And then there is Sam.

And of all the things that beguile the Jets this season, defining who Sam Darnold is, and what he can be, was always going to be the most important story to track. It is no mystery who rules the roost in the NFL, but in case anyone had been sleeping on it, Kansas City devoted half a billion dollars — that’s with a “b” — to Patrick Mahomes and hardly anyone batted an eye because, well, Mahomes is awfully good and, more to the point, he guided the Chiefs to the championship in February.

Enlarge Image  

(And thereby removed themselves from that list of championship-free teams, where for decades they stood but one skinny year under the Jets on the catalogue of calamity.)

The Jets want to believe Darnold is the kind of rare talent who they can build such aspirations around, and it isn’t lapsing into hyperbole to say that they need him to become the kind of franchise pillar they haven’t had since Joe Namath was 26 years old. The Jets have had temporary valves of hope through the years — Ken O’Brien and Chad Pennington; Mark Sanchez; even a late-in-the-game Vinny Testaverde.

And look: Guys like Drew Brees and Tom Brady aren’t easy to get.

But there is belief that Darnold can be that kind of guy. On two dreadful teams thus far he has been better than his supporting cast, especially when fully healthy. The Jets were 7-6 on his watch last year. That is progress. But the Jets want more. They need more. They need to know. They need to truly believe.

Sam has to make them believe.

“I’m trying to work on continuing to learn the playbook, protections, route concepts, where to go if [options] one, two and three are covered,” Darnold said Tuesday on a Zoom call with reporters. “There is so much more I know now than at this time last year. I have a ton more confidence in myself.”

He added: “It’s definitely a process spent hours and hours trying to learn and I still have stuff to learn but I’m comfortable teaching the young guys and the guys who weren’t here before.”

Can the Jets’ long tradition of dysfunction be dissolved? Can Adam Gase discover a way to harness Darnold’s talent, engage him to the point where he maximizes his natural gifts, minimizes his occasional brain lapses and blossoms into a franchise-level performer? Can Jets GM Joe Douglas put pieces around him to help draw out that full potential — better pieces, if we are speaking bluntly, than the ones that presently surround him?

And can Darnold rise above the middling roster and do that for which a true franchise quarterback is capable: Make his teammates better than they are?

Look, Eli Manning spent some time throwing balls to Amani Toomer (one of the best receivers in Giants history) and some other time throwing to Odell Beckham Jr., who in spasms can be as gifted a receiver as there is. But he also threw a lot of balls though the years to a lot of pass-catchers who, frankly, became their best selves when Eli was throwing to them. Can Darnold do that now, with the options he has now?

Can he become that, in the event Douglas doesn’t immediately develop a Florham Park-to-Canton receiving pipeline? And can he simply be better than he’s been across two years and 26 games: an 11-15 record, 36 TDs to 27 picks, a rating of 81.1? In the best of situations and the most normal of years, the Jets would be hunting answers for those critical questions.

Neither is the case this year. And yet the Jets still want to know about Sam. They still need to know.

 

[Jet Nut]

9 hours ago, nico002 said:

Yes I will. We haven’t sniffed a player like Darnold in 50 years. The hope of landing a player like Darnold was basically my motivation to stick with this POS franchise for as long as I have. If they **** this up I’m done. The comparison to Trubisky is laughable. 

How about if youre wrong, he doesnt have it and fails all on his own?

Its the Jets fault?

Okay

[Jet Nut]

8 hours ago, Aaron Hernandez said:

You really mad at him? We all ******* hate this franchise more than any of our enemies and need to vent sometimes. If we could actually quit them, we all would have. Darnold and now Dougles are the hope we have. If Darnold busts, which he won't, it'll break me as well

I think you kind of missed the mark by a mile 

Or more

[joewilly12]

26 minutes ago, Jet Nut said:

For those who left their magnifiers home

Thank You 

[Jackie Treehorn]

Of corse he is. Sam Darnold will eventually be in the HoF, as a Jet or God forbid as something else. 

[Jetsfan80]

Yes.  But if not, then the next QB will have to be. 

[Losmeister]

what if Captain Morgan is our Kurt Warner???