After a 2017 offseason where the Jets’ then-top quarterback prospect couldn’t land the starting job, the latest New York centerpiece passer is believed to have a decent chance of doing that despite a clear bridge plan in place.
With Christian Hackenberg relegated to afterthought status, Sam Darnold will assume center stage, beginning with the Jets’ rookie minicamp this weekend. However, the plan of the soon-to-be 21-year-old rookie starting his career as Josh McCown‘s understudy may be tenuous.
Some at Jets headquarters believe Darnold showing the Jets what they think he will stands to give him a great opportunity to be the team’s starter from the outset, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News reports.
While it’s obviously early to speculate how advanced Darnold will be in Jeremy Bates‘ system by September, the Jets are ecstatic Darnold fell to them at No. 3 and will be ready to hand him the keys if he shows enough progress in his first NFL offseason.
Todd Bowles didn’t rule out a then-to-be-determined rookie starting in Year 1, and Mehta notes this won’t be a redshirt season for Darnold. The USC product will “absolutely” take over as the starter this season, just as Mitch Trubisky and Deshaun Watson did last season. And it might be a quicker-than-expected ascent.
As for Hackenberg, the former second-round pick has been working with passing coach Jeff Christensen this offseason, per Mike Garafolo of NFL.com (video link). The Penn State product’s passing motion has reportedly been improved, Adam Caplan of ESPN.com tweets, adding that the reason Bryce Petty was cut and not Hackenberg was due to the latter’s second-round pedigree.
Hackenberg could now be battling Teddy Bridgewater for the No. 3 job. He still has two years left on his rookie deal while McCown and Bridgewater are signed to one-year contracts. This could impact the competition, along with Bridgewater’s health.
uhhhhhh maybe hand him the clipboard and let him develop unless Bridgewater and McCown happen to be awful
If he is genuinely lighting it up in practice and the preseason, give him the job. Otherwise, I agree.
I’m a Browns fan and a lot of people thought DeShone Kizer looked great in the preseason so they abandoned their plan and let him start right away and he was terrible. If the plan is to let Darnold sit for a little then I wouldn’t deviate from that unless there was absolutely no way you could justify sitting him, which I think is what you were getting at.
Would love to see Hackenberg go to the Patriots and get developed.
Just start him right away. Nothing to lose.
Darnold and Rosen the rookies likeliest to start sooner than later, if only because the of the age and/or health of the men in front of them. Mayfield may be close to ready, too, but Taylor’s got his youth and health. Allen and Jackson SHOULD sit.