Trading Williams for a third was pointless. JD drafted Ashtyn Davis with that pick. Darnold looked promising as a rookie to me. Then Gase and JD ruined him. Putting him in that offense, tearing down any talent the team had, and failing to improve the Oline was a recipe for disaster for a young QB. That’s where ownership has to step in and challenge a strategic disaster, but the Jets farm out strategy to glorified scouts with no oversight. It’s happening again imo.
One can only deduce that good coaching, capable of developing talent and tailor schemes to players strengths has something to do with it.
I’m proud of Sam personally. I always liked him and thought he had the ability. Some QBs simply need time to grow. Yes, coaching has a lot to do with it. He’s not HOF material but he’s still a solid QB and now a SB champ. He’s not even 30 yet. More proof of what a buffoon Woody is.
The Jets got the below for Leonard Williams (age 25) and Darnold (age 23) 2nd round pick 3rd round pick 4th round pick 5th round pick The Jets got the below for Sauce (age 25) and Q (age 28) 3x 1st round picks 2nd round pick Adonai Mitchell Mazi Smith It’s a little bit of a different haul.
Fun fact Even though Sam Darnold was thrown to the wolves as a rookie and expected to carry this team right away he may have improved his game the most while riding the bench in San Francisco. The polished product that the Vikings let slip through their fingers looked much better than what Carolina had or his best mono shortened season with the Jets. I remember arguing until I was blue in the face that time on the bench might have done Zach Wilson or Geno Smith some good. Instead this concept was the worst possible thing for their confidence and development as they needed to get ground to a pulp on the field as they failed over and over again while taking a physical beating. Eventually the coaches had no choice and put both of these bums on the bench but it was long overdue at that point as these young players were allowed to pile up losses to the detriment of the team and themselves. Thoughts?
We used to have a poster here @DefenseWinsChampionships. I think that moniker can be applied to playoffs and SBs. Both teams brought superior defenses to the game, but Seattle's defense was able to prevail against Maye who looked inexperienced. Admittedly, Sam struggled too but was able to make enough plays to put them in position to score early points. Despite Maye's performance in this game, unfortunately for us, I think he's going to be a top shelf QB for a long time. Stayed with the wives to watch Bad Bunny's half-time show and thoroughly enjoyed it.
IMO there isn't the slightest doubt about this. Kyle Shanahan has repeatedly shown the ability to get more out of middle-of-the-pack QBs (Jimmy Garappolo, Brock Purdy, Mac Jones) than anyone expected or thought possible. Darnold wasn't really any better in Carolina than he was for the Jets. He spends a year in San Francisco, and all of a sudden he goes 31-7 for two different teams the next two years. We also need to point out that it isn't like Darnold has magically fixed all of his problems - he still turns over the ball way too much (32 turnovers the last two years), but the last two years he's played on teams with defenses that were good enough that it hasn't mattered. He is way better than he was when he played for the Jets, but he still is just a decent QB playing for a team with a great defense.
Day after Darnold wins super bowl, news is out that Adam Gase was hired as pass game coordinator for the chargers. Wtf https://x.com/i/status/2020924040496685213
I'm sure he will do amazing, eventually work his way back, get another HC gig, then turn into a God tier HC all of a sudden. Just to spite our fanbase. Bizzare-O-world I live in.
With very few exceptions, its always been defense wins championships. Anyhow, happy for Sam. I believe he is the first QB we've drafted since Nameth to win a SB.
Kubiak has confirmed that he is off to the Raiders. I wonder how many assistants he will take with him from Seattle's staff? Will Kubiak's departure have any effect on Darnold? (Probably not, given that his performance this year was pretty much the same as his performance last year with Minnesota.)
Agreed. Who made the decision to fire Maccagnan ? Was that Christopher or Woody ? Because that eliminated any chance we had of keeping Sam and maybe pairing him with Jamaar Chase. Agreed.....the offensive talent was nil. That's why I thought the Jets should have taken Jamaar Chase with the #2 pick in 2021....if Sam stinks up the joint with him as a WR, you know the QB is the problem....if he looks OK or better, you know it's the overall talent and you need 1 or 2 more good offensive players and 2 good OL. Zach Wilson will go down as the worst Jets draft pick in history because of what we traded away and what we failed to draft. He's our Deshaun Watson.
Perusing this at this exact point in time it sure feels like one of these groups is "selling low" and the other group is "selling high" But I guess the whole book isn't finished just yet.
I have one nit to pick here personally. I watched most all of Sam's run with the Panthers when he came back from being out with an injury and got within 1 fumble of getting them into the playoffs having been 5-1 or something going into the last game. I thought he looked really good during that time on what was absolutely not the greatest team ever. He won 28 regular season games the last two seasons. I mean thats not nothing. Vikings faded pretty significantly without him this season as well. I never really saw this incredible renaissance after his stay in SF personally. I'm not saying he's not getting a little better each year with experience as should be reasonably expected as he masters his craft. But at the core he pretty much looks like the same player that was here with the Jets, he just didn't have any help. Which was why I ended many of my posts at the time with the plea to "get Sam some help" That was really what it always looked like needed to happen to me. 2 tough veteran runs by Frank Gore leaving him 1 chance on 3rd and 9 with a terrible offensive line and top receivers that couldn't even make another NFL roster.... not exactly a formula for success. And that was what he faced time after time after time....
