Jets To Either Trade Sam Darnold Or No. 2 Pick?

The Jets closed the books on their disastrous 2020 season with a loss to the Patriots to finish at 2-14. They made a little bit of noise down the stretch by winning two of their last three, but not enough to stave off the major questions facing the franchise.

Adam Gase is now out of a job, and the attention will soon toward what to do at quarterback moving forward. It seems up in the air as to whether or not Sam Darnold will be back under center in 2021, but one thing already appears to be decided. The Jets will either trade Darnold, or trade the second overall pick in the draft to a team looking for a quarterback, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets.

That would seemingly mean New York has no plans of drafting a non-quarterback, like Oregon offensive tackle Penei Sewellat number two. They also clearly don’t intend on having Darnold and a highly drafted passer on the roster together. Needless to say, first-year Jets GM Joe Douglas has a massive decision ahead of him that will determine his own future.

Darnold, of course, was the second overall pick back in 2018. He started 13 games his first two seasons (the first of which was under Todd Bowles), then 12 this past year. New York went 6-2 down the stretch last year to inspire a little bit of hope entering 2020, but things went off the rails pretty quickly.

He finished this season averaging 6.1 yards per attempt with only nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. Of course he’s only 23 years old, and if the Jets are ready to throw in the towel on him there will likely be significant trade interest due to his perceived upside.

This is considered a strong quarterback draft class, and whether it’s the Jets or another team on the clock at number two guys like Ohio State’s Justin Fields, BYU’s Zach Wilson, and North Dakota State’s Trey Lance will be available. Assuming Trevor Lawrence still goes first to the Jaguars. Buckle up.

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