NFL
New York Jets QB Sam Darnold’s Future Outlook
After suffering from mono in 2019, many fans are down on Sam Darnold but he has all the tools to still live up to his potential as a future Pro Bowl QB
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After finally getting their front office and head coaching situation in order last year, the New York Jets saw some flashes of talent under their new administration in 2019 when they ended the season 6-2 with a healthy Sam Darnold. How the Jets can turn a promising campaign into future success is heavily predicated on Darnold taking that next step. The 2018 third overall pick has been given the keys to the franchise in the Big Apple and its time he starts delivering on his big potential.
Sam Darnold’s pedestrian 36 TDs to 28 INTs is not what the Jets fans expected to see from the former third overall pick. In spite of a mediocre sophomore campaign, the USC product is poised for a bounce back year. The Jets have yet to give Darnold an ideal situation to succeed. To this point in his career, the Jets QB1 has had to rely on the inconsistent Robby Anderson, injury-prone Quincy Enunwa, and the adequate Jamison Crowder. He won’t have much more help in 2020 with rookie Denzel Mims and the $6.5M man Breshad Perriman.
The Tight End position has provided even less production, with a revolving door of contributors such as Ryan Griffin, Chris Herndon and Jordan Leggett. Herndon has by far the most potential of the group as a 24-year-old former fourth round pick and can develop into a consistent pass-catcher for Darnold up the middle.
The young QB was hit with more adversity when he had to miss three games early in the 2019 season with mononeucleosis, typically a disease reserved for high schoolers. Mono is tough for any NFL player to combat as the symptoms include extreme fatigue, weight loss, and most importantly an enlarged spleen that could rupture and become deadly. Darnold came back after a month of missed action and rebounded to put together a solid season, especially down the stretch.
He never quite figured out how to succeed in the redzone (4 INT was t-most in NFL & 65.0 Pass Rating ranked 32nd) as that will be an area of focus this offseason. Despite the early slump, the California kid posted a 7-6 record as the Jets starting quarterback in 2019. Darnold’s impact was felt throughout the organization when he was able to develop continuity throughout the season as New York turned a 1-7 disaster season to a 7-9 record that showed signs of promise.
The Jets are not a team to sleep on in a wide open AFC East with Darnold representing one of the major breakout candidates entering 2020. Under the tutelage of Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco, Sam Darnold has the opportunity to improve his mental understanding of the game, read defenses at a more advanced level, and become the star QB that the Jets envisioned him being when they drafted him third overall in 2018.
FUTURE OUTLOOK: A-
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The Jets signed Joe Flacco to a 1y/$4.5M contract a few weeks ago to help mentor Sam Darnold and be his primary backup in 2020. Flacco brings a veteran Super Bowl MVP pedigree to one of the youngest quarterback rooms in the NFL. Until a 2018 hip injury, Flacco was one of the most durable QBs in NFL history, missing only six games through the first ten seasons of his career. After starting the first nine weeks of that season, the Delaware product lost his job after the injury and became a mentor to the eventual 2019 MVP, Lamar Jackson.
Flacco was then traded to the Denver Broncos where he was the incumbent starter despite John Elway spending a second round pick on Drew Lock. However, Flacco ended the 2019 season on IR with a herniated disk, ultimately leading him to another mentor role for Lock and later being cut by the Broncos. With Flacco entering each of the past two years as the starting QB, he still clearly has some juice left in the tank. However, after dealing with back-to-back major injuries, Flacco has accepted his new main responsibility of grooming the next generation of NFL QBs.
The Jets drafted big arm quarterback James Morgan in the fourth round from Florida International (FIU). After an impressive week at the East-West Shrine Game, Morgan was on every team’s radar after displaying his football IQ, arm talent, & leadership. Morgan will be an interesting developmental piece as he showed too much potential to not be the seventh QB selected in the 2020 draft. His early day 3 selection shouldn’t worry Darnold at all as teams must have valuable backups in place in today’s game (as evidenced by NYJ’s poor performance in 2019 when QB1 went down).
The Jets have their quarterback room of the future in place, but have to a do a better job of protecting them and adding weapons on the outside. GM Joe Douglas and company began to take steps toward that goal this offseason, but they still have plenty of work to do in the offseason ahead. Even with a non-ideal supporting cast, expect Sam Darnold to become a more poised passer going forward and ignore the ghosts that derailed his 2019 season.
JETS QB OUTLOOK: A-
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