Robert Saleh was asked a question about how things might have worked out if he kept Sam Darnold at quarterback.
“I think it would have been fine, in either direction,” said Saleh. “Whether we have Zach (Wilson) at the reins, whether we had Sam, it didn’t really matter to us. It’s about process, it’s about the organization, it’s about trying to get an entire team ready to play a football game.”
This answer is something you say the week before facing another team and the player you traded to them. Many might not buy that answer, but you can totally understand why Saleh said it. You don’t want to provide bulletin board fodder for an opponent, and you don’t want to insult the player who was traded.
Obviously time will tell if Wilson is an upgrade over Darnold, but clearly the Jets think he can be. Darnold was traded in April to the Carolina Panthers for a 2021 sixth-round pick (No. 226), plus second- and fourth-round selections in the 2022 draft. The Jets face Carolina on Sunday in their season-opener in Charlotte. They picked Wilson with the second pick overall in the 2021 draft to replace Darnold.
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