After an offseason of rumors about his future, Sam Darnold has finally spoken out.
It seems increasingly likely that the New York Jets are going to draft Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick, thus putting into question what the future holds for former first-round pick Sam Darnold.
Former first-round pick from less than five years ago, for what it’s worth.
Darnold seems on the precipice of being the second highly-drafted quarterback from his class to bust. As New York continues its courtship with Wilson, Darold has finally spoken out about his feelings on the situation, confiding in his former teammate Josh McCown.
Could Darnold and Wilson co-exist in the same Jets quarterback room?
“Can it be done? Absolutely,” McCown said to Cimini. “In my mind, if you can’t get the value now for him, that’s absolutely how you go about it. I wouldn’t even call it a competition. I would just say, ‘We’re going to go with Sam as the guy and bring Zach along.’ If Sam knocks it out of the park, we’ll re-evaluate where we are a year from now.”
“Sam would embrace it and be helpful, but he’d also go out and work hard and try to make the most of the opportunity to play this year — and put it back on them and make them have to make a tough decision at the end of the year. I think, if that happens, really and truly, everybody wins.”
Should New York Jets fans be bothered by Sam Darnold’s comments?
While it is great and all to be willing to compete, Darnold saying he would embrace having Wilson as his teammate by way of McCown should not sit well with Jets fans. It reveals the truth that Darnold is no longer a franchise quarterback.
That is not to say he cannot be a starter with Gang Green or somewhere else, but welcoming Wilson in this way absolutely crushes his trade value.
Unless you overreach on a project quarterback like Jordan Love out of BYU or have a perennial Pro Bowler already under center in Alex Smith, if your team drafts a quarterback in the first round, he is expected to start in year one. That is the NFL world we live in now. When you have two starting quarterbacks, it tells the rest of the league that you do not have one. Darnold has to be dealt here.
If the Jets are set on drafting Wilson, then they need to trade Darnold for whatever they can get.