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What do I see?
I see a player who is likely going to be terrific, but he’s not ready yet.
I’m talking about Sam Darnold.
And don’t take that as a negative. He has the earmarks of somebody who should be very good in time.
But I see a guy not ready for prime time in the spring practices – first the OTA’s and now the veteran minicamp.
He makes a lot of nice throws mixed in with some clunkers.
Like at Wednesday’s minicamp practice, he was almost picked by cornerback Jeremy Clark on a pass over the middle.
If Clark was a little quicker, this likely would have been picked off.
I’m not being critical of Clark, but you have to realize he’s a 6-3, 220-pound. He’s a good player, but cornerbacks built like that usually don’t have the short-area quickness to jump routes, let’s say like an Aaron Glenn. Long legs make it hard to have great short-area quickness.
So what I’m saying that a smaller, quicker cornerback might have had a pick on his play.
And keep in mind that if an inexperienced cornerback, like Clark, is jumping his routes, what is a veteran going to do? Darnold needs to do a better job of manipulating defensive backs with his eyes, which I think will happen in time.
Dude, he’s not starting Week One (unless there are injuries). The Jets can try and sell this open QB competition all they want, but I’m not buying it.
“We’re throwing everything at him,” Jets OC Jeremy Bates said. “If he can handle it, if he can prove that he’s the starter, then that will take place when the time comes.”
There is no way Bates wants Darnold to start Week One. As he said last year about Bryce Petty and Christian Hackenberg, “This isn’t Triple AAA.”
And could you be less committal than “that will take place when the time comes?”
Also, Bates and Todd Bowles know that quarterbacking in spring practices isn’t real NFL quarterbacks.
“Shorts and T-shirt, you can’t tell whether the ball would’ve been broken up or he’d been sacked or not, but his learning is outstanding,” Bowles said.
Great point. There are a lot of plays, where a QB completes a pass in the spring, but the play might have been over sooner in real football. You can’t touch quarterbacks, so often you see pass rushers get into the backfield, but hold up, and the quarterback will continue the play and throw a completion.
And if you throw Darnold in there too early, before he’s ready, that will piss off the locker room.
“I don’t know what the idea is with the coaches, but for us, we just wanna see him progress and earn his way on the field,” wide receiver Quincy Enunwa said.
These players want to win coming off a pair of 5-11 seasons.
And McCown gives them the best chance to win in 2018.
I think the Jets are positioned very well at the quarterback position with McCown who can win now, and a potential franchise quarterback in waiting.
But that potential franchise quarterback isn’t ready for the car keys yet.
June 13, 2018
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