5 teams who could trade for and get Sam Darnold on the right track
If the New York Jets move on from Sam Darnold, one of these five teams could provide a nice landing spot to get his career on the right track.
Among the NFL’s winless teams, perhaps none have been a mix of feeble and hopeless more than the New York Jets. To add injury to insult, quarterback Sam Darnold suffered a shoulder injury in Week 4 and he’ll miss at least Week 5.
The Jets seem sure to have a new head coach within this season, and if not then Adam Gase will surely be replaced after the season. A reset under center may come too, as general manager Joe Douglas did not draft Darnold and the Jets are headed for a top-five pick.
The Jets have fifth-year option decision looming on Darnold next May. They may not pick it up, surely driven by how a new head coach feels about the third overall pick in the 2018 draft. They could try to trade him this offseason, like the Arizona Cardinals did with Josh Rosen (from Darnold’s draft class, coincidentally) earned the No. 1 pick in the 2019 draft and chose Kyler Murray.
But ESPN’s Adam Schefter has passed along a good bit of pessimism from NFL executives regarding what the Jets could get for Darnold in a trade.
“I don’t think they’d get a [first-round pick] for Sam, but it also depends what he puts on tape the rest of the year,” one general manager told ESPN. “The problem is, [Darnold] is struggling with his accuracy, his durability — so they’re in a tough spot. And if everyone knows the Jets are taking a quarterback, then they won’t get as much back.”
“The high-water mark would be a [second-round pick] for him,” one GM said this weekend. “I think they could get a [fourth-round pick] for him, but if he finished positive for him, they might get a 2 for him. In college, he was a turnover machine. In the NFL, he has been a turnover machine. I just don’t think he has the credentials to go for a 1.”
Darnold’s failures have not been all his fault. He’s just the latest victim of the Jets’ patent lack of ability to develop (or their ability to purely stunt the growth of) young quarterbacks.
If the Jets taking a quarterback next April becomes inevitable, here are five teams who could trade for Darnold and help him get his career on track.
5 teams who could trade for Sam Darnold
5. Atlanta Falcons
The Falcons are where no franchise wants to be. They are bad (0-5) with a top-heavy roster and a bad cap situation that will not easily get better soon. Matt Ryan is surely not going anywhere as the starting quarterback, under contract through 2023 with no real way out until 2022.
It may not be current GM Thomas Dimitroff making the decision, but the Falcons could very well take a quarterback early in the 2021 draft. But that would also come with a minimum four-year commitment, with only injury or a surprise retirement by Ryan likely opening the door for that 2021 rookie to play before Year 4.
Darnold, on the other hand, could come with only a commitment for next year and nothing after pending the Jets’ picking up that fifth-year option. Not picking it up, assuming the situation ultimately dictates it, keeps the most trade possibilities open-including to cap-strapped teams like Atlanta.