Some rare good news for the Jets. NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports (via Twitter) that quarterback Sam Darnold‘s precautionary MRI of his right shoulder only showed a “reaggravation.” The 23-year-old will attempt to work through the injury and won’t be sidelined.
Darnold initially suffered the shoulder injury during the Jets’ Week 4 loss to the Broncos, and that forced Joe Flacco into the lineup for Week 5. Darnold returned under center for the past two games, but he’s only completed 56.6-percent of his passes for 253 yards and two interceptions. Prior to the injury, Darnold completed 59.42-percent of his passes for 792 yards, three scores, and four interceptions.
Darnold has missed eight games through his three NFL seasons. If he’s forced to miss more time, the team could either turn to Flacco, third-stringer James Morgan, or practice squad signal-caller Mike White.
Some more notes out of the Big Apple:
- Prior to the Jets loss to the Chiefs yesterday, ESPN’s Rich Cimini gave the “inside story” of why the organization passed on future MVP and champion Patrick Mahomes during the 2017 draft. There were a variety of reasons that went into the decision: the Jets had already invested in Josh McCown as their bridge quarterback, there was still some optimism that Christian Hackenberg could work out, former GM Mike Maccagnan already had his eye on the 2018 quarterbacks class (including Darnold), and the organization was much more infatuated with their eventual pick, safety Jamal Adams. Still, prior to the draft, Mahomes thought he could end up in New York. “I definitely thought there was interest there,” Mahomes said. “Whenever you go on those visits, you know they’re pretty interested in doing their due diligence. I definitely thought there was interest there.”
- While we’ve heard a similar sentiment throughout the past few weeks, Ralph Vacchiano of SNY reiterates that the Jets aren’t expected to fire head coach Adam Gase midseason. “They really don’t want to do it,” a source told Vacchiano. “They may have to, at some point. But they know a midseason coaching change doesn’t change their situation. I think they’re going to hold off as long as they can.” Vacchiano provided a variety of reasons why it makes sense for the Jets to hold on to Gase, including the fact that the head coach serves as a “lightning rod” while distracting from general manager Joe Douglas‘ shaky first season with the organization.
- Safety Marcus Maye‘s rookie contract is set to come to an end, and Cimini believes he could be eyeing a contract that will pay him around $7MM per season. As a result, Cimini reports that rival teams believe the 27-year-old could be had as part of the team’s fire sale. The reporter had a similar sentiment about Bradley McDougald, although the impending free agent safety has since landed on IR.
- In the same article, Cimini passes along an anecdote from 2018, when the Jets “boxed” out the QB-needy Bills by moving from No. 6 to No. 3 in a deal with the Colts. The move allowed the Jets to select Darnold, who was Buffalo’s top-rated QB. In fact, the Bills were so displeased with the deal, they refused to negotiate with Indy for the remainder of the draft. Buffalo ended up trading up from No. 11 to No. 7, and they proceeded to select Josh Allen.
Buffalo should be paying the power bill at Lucas Oil for the next 5 years as a thank you to the Colts for protecting them from themselves. Darnold can’t sniff Josh Allen’s jock.
Facts
If Josh Allen was drafted by the Jets and Darnold by the Bills, then the inverse would be true, too. It’s not a player problem, it’s a team problem.
I completely agree with you. The Jets are a landfill. But Allen is still a better player than Darnold. If they both played for Buffalo Darnold would be holding the clipboard.
Bills traded Mahomes. Doesn’t matter who they ended up with. They should be kicking themselves.
Maybe, maybe not, but there is literally no worse thing in sports than to play draft hindsight. Literally nothing worse. Now, that doesn’t mean that you can’t criticize obvious mistakes-the Packers’ last draft, for instance-but looking back at specific players and saying “they could have had this guy! What idiots, not being to tell the future!” Criticizing bad positional picks-taking a quarterback instead of a receiver, for instance, when you need a receiver desperately-is one thing. Not recognizing that destination matters is another.
You have quite literally no clue how either player would have been with another team-would Mahomes have been the MVP with the Jets? Or would he have been the big play one minute, gambled on a risky throw the next type of QB that he was at Texas Tech that would have hung around for four or five years before being replaced himself?
The best players don’t get those long careers by themselves in most cases, and certainly not at a dependent position like quarterback.
Hackenberg might have been a bust anyway, but the dude really didnt get a real chance if we are honest
He was awful in the AAF. Hackenberg couldn’t play. They probably saw it in practice
He also was frequently injured. Hackenberg got a decent shot, at least as much as the other poor starters for the Jets.
they didnt give him one regulation game snap
Jets wouldn’t know what to do with a QB if they came with instructions.
LMAO
Lol my Jets are a joke
I know the Darnold pick is what’s freshest in everyone’s memorie, but some of us still remember them selecting Ken O’Brien over Dan Marino
It’s never a good sign when the GMs top priority is having a “lightning rod” to divert attention from his own failures.
The only thing the Jets are good for: bet$
Can’t believe all of the disbelief over Gase not being fired. It is actually a pretty easy decision for the Jets. Why fire the guy who put you in position to have the overall #1 pick and replace him with a coach who will be looking to make a name for themselves and will actually try to win a couple of games in order to gain favor in getting the job full time? They only have a 1 game lead for the pick.
0-8, but at least it is nice to know that neither the GM nor the coach is responsible for the record.