The Jets have stumbled to an 0-4 record to start the 2020 season and have undeniably looked like the worst team in the league. As such, New York has a great chance of finishing the season with the No. 1 overall pick, which means the club would be in position to land a potentially generational QB talent in Clemson signal-caller Trevor Lawrence.
Of course, that would leave Sam Darnold — the No. 3 overall pick of the 2018 draft — on the outs. Plenty of fans and writers alike have connected the dots and have wondered if the Jets would consider trading Darnold, and if so, what the club could expect in return.
Last year, the Cardinals traded Darnold’s draftmate, QB Josh Rosen, to the Dolphins in exchange for second- and fifth-round selections. A few executives tell Adam Schefter of ESPN.com that the Jets could expect similar compensation if they elect to move Darnold.
Although Darnold has certainly shown more flashes of promise than Rosen had when he was traded, the Jets’ passer has not come close to living up to his draft status. Of course, there are plenty of organizational, coaching, and talent issues outside of Darnold’s control that have led to his struggles, but his overall body of work has left much to be desired.
Still, there are a few clubs that might not be drafting high enough to select a future franchise quarterback that will nonetheless need a talented young passer sooner rather than later. Those clubs include teams like the Colts, Bears, and Saints, all of whom could theoretically make a play for Darnold.
Matt Miller of Bleacher Report also names the Steelers as a great fit, and he believes Pittsburgh should trade a second-round pick plus a player or two to land the USC product (Twitter link). Unsurprisingly, Mark Kaboly of The Athletic says the Steelers have no interest in Darnold, though he does believe Darnold or a player in his situation will ultimately be the type of passer that Pittsburgh will need to target to adequately replace Ben Roethlisberger.
Any Darnold trade would not happen until after the season, and if he continues to struggle, the Jets’ price would continue to drop, especially since rival clubs would see Lawrence as an inevitability for Gang Green at that point. Plus, an acquiring team would need to make a decision on Darnold’s fully-guaranteed ~$24MM fifth-year option for 2022 at some point in May, which would be just one more complicating factor.
Darnold will miss the Jets’ game against the Cardinals today due to a shoulder injury. Over the first four games of the season, he has completed under 60% of his passes and has thrown three TDs against four interceptions.
That 5th year option money is probably what decides things. Taking a spin on Darnold for a year to see what happens at the expense of trading a draft pick to the Jets is one thing. Taking another spin on Darnold at the expense of passing on Lawrence or Fields and also committing to that kind of money is another. I’m a Jets fan, and I’d still like to see Darnold succeed–and think the Jets have done him zero favors in that regard–but it’s hard to see it making sense to keep him unless their draft status changes dramatically.
I always admire these contradicting paragraphs writers use
“Of course, there are plenty of organizational, coaching, and talent issues outside of Darnold’s control that have led to his struggles, but his overall body of work has left much to be desired.”
To:
‘Still, there are a few clubs that might not be drafting high enough to select a future franchise quarterback that will nonetheless need a talented young passer sooner rather than later.’
Does he suck, or is he a talented young passer?
Nobody knows
Then that’s a whole lot of wasted money on scouts, GM’s, & coaches if that’s the answer after 4 years in the league.
He’s in the 1st half of year 3 and he’s missed a few games to injuries and sickeness. It hasn’t been 4 years.
He could be talented (ie, filled with potential) with a body of work that leaves ‘much to be desired’ because of how bad the coaching and roster (other than him) are.
Two opposite things can both be true. It’s okay to say that he’s struggled while also mentioning that it’s not just his fault.
wonder if a Washington or Indy take a flyer.
Washington needs so much in so many areas, but, at the moment, they are in the same boat as the Jets-a young passer who may or may not be the answer at qb.
Darnold is better than Haskins imo and I don’t see Wash being bad enough to land a top 4 pick to get one of the top 2 guys.
I agree they need a lot still but they have a stud young defender, a stud young wr, a pretty decent young RB and a coach with some competence.
The Jets, well they need something almost everywhere.
All fair points. Chase Young is going to be a monster. The Jets…what can I say?
Washington is horrible. The Jets are just unbelievably horrible.
They’d be doing him a favor. I don’t think he’s all-pro, but I do think he’s better than he has shown while with the Jets. I don’t think having Adam Gase around helps either.
Look what happened to Tannehill when he escaped Gase
If they have the #1 pick Darnold is gone.
The value of the First pick is so great that they should trade it Use those picks ,their current pick stockpile and all that cap space to surround Darnold with legit talent.
Just to find themselves trading for a QB again in a year or two?
Teams almost never do this, and when they do it, they often don’t do it right (Rams, notably), but this is the right move.
The Pats and Browns have drafted some good talent with later picks that they’ve traded in the last few years, but the haul for a top ten pick (let alone top five) is just extraordinary. For a team like NYJ that has SO many holes, having four good picks (a conservative estimate to me for a top three pick would be two firsts and two seconds) is better than one. Even if you think a passer is generational, what you give him to work with is more important than he is himself.
The truth of the matter is that you didn’t miss picking him that year in the draft, you missed it a year before when you left your team with too many holes to give him a decent environment to succeed in. We’ve seen generational passers not win Superbowls before (and we’ll never know how many could have been, on the right team). As important as they are, the team as a whole and organization is more important.
Jets wind up with number 1 Lawrence should come out and say he isn’t going to that train wreck. Why would he go to the Jets and suffer the same as Darnold? I get that he has more talent but poor Mgmt and coaching is a consistent in NY and so is killing careers.
Typically you don’t wind up getting the number 1 pick by being a well coached well run team with a good roster situation to offer a young QB. Burrow was fine with being drafted by the Bengals.
Exactly.
Bengals are 1-3-1 w/ Joe B. I wouldn’t exactly call Cinny a well coached, well managed organization.
Please point out where the coaching has done things wrong in Cinci. Cinci is a team that made the play offs for years, and are just having a rebuild. Don’t compare us to the Jets.
Haha, I love your defense of your teams. Cincy is pretty awful too! That’s why you got the top pick last year. Jets got to the conference finals under Rex Ryan. Before that, Cincy was awful for a decade!
Duck Hodges and a 6th round pick for Darnold.
Knowing how the Jets operate, they would probably trade Darnold for Geno Smith and then sign Sanchez and Hackenberg as backups.
Darnold is a bust. Throws into triple coverage. Misses wide open receivers. Nothing to do with coaching. Get rid of him the sooner the better
That is patently false. It has everything to do with coaching.
Darnold may never become elite, or even that good, but his current development (or lack thereof) is absolutely and certainly affected by poor coaching, organizational turnover, and a lack of winning culture. Darnold likely has had permanent damage done to his development as a result, and it will likely take a good coach and stable environment to allow him to improve, but there is certainty that he would have had a better chance with better support.
Trade to the Steelers for a 3rd round pick at best.
Jerry Jones is on the phone for you.
They’ll have to fight the neighboring Giants for that first pick…..Either Darnold or Jonsey is leaving the Big Slapple…..
I was also totally thinking Dallas would be a great candidate
If I am Indy I am making the call about Darold, put him behind rivers for 3-4 weeks to learn from a qualified NFL coach and with a team that has talent, they won’t have to think about it again.
How many 21st century QBs were highly drafted, given the keys to the franchise, failed and got traded and performed at a Pro Bowl level for years onward?
Ghosts Darnold will haunt the roster of any team that he makes. As far as a trade – his contract mandates he appear on the Waiver wire.
Not traded, but free agents that blossomed with new teams: Drew Brees and Alex Smith. Joe Montana did it briefly. Teddy Bridgewater might be there if you like him. Steve Young and Brett Favre are the two best examples of trades, depending on your definition of “keys to the franchise” of course. Believe it or not, sometimes it’s the organization that fails the player, not the other way around. Career trajectories change all the time, and you need to look at specific circumstances. Besides, it’s not like Darnold is flat out unredeemably awful. Even if he never lives up to his top five billing, he may still end up alright with another team.
There will never be 32 franchise quarterbacks, thus the Jets should be improving the other parts of the team so that they aren’t RELYING on Darnold to playing at a level that is beyond him.