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The holdout.
There could be a silver-lining to Darnold’s holdout.
Hear me out for a minute.
Some reporters and fans are pushing for him to start from the get-go.
As you all know I’m not one of those people.
I love the prospect, but I don’t think you throw him the car keys immediately.
He just turned 21 for goodness sake.
He has tons of talent. However, he needs a lot of work; he must improve his ball security (too many picks and fumbles at USC) and learn how to read defenses better.
I don’t think he’s instant coffee.
But the “lobby” that wants him to start immediately is going to push for him to be under center in Week One.
However, if he misses some time in camp, this cry will die down. After all, he would have missed valuable reps, and he needs every rep he can get, so it could hurt their argument.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think a holdout for a rookie quarterback is a good thing. That would be a foolish thing to say. He needs the reps.
But maybe it will get the lobbyists to chill out.
I have said it many times – the Jets need to make the playoffs in 2018, or go down with a fight.
A GM and coach are coming off a pair of 5-11 seasons and are in no position to write-off the season to “develop the kid.”
Especially the coach.
I’ve said this before. Reading the tea leaves, I get the sense that Maccagnan has a little more job security than Bowles. Not a lot, but a little.
And if the Jets have a losing season, with undisciplined play, the Jets might make a coaching change, and let Maccagnan pick his own coach.
So my sense is Bowles needs a strong season. Not a Super Bowl season, but a strong season.
And Bowles clearly knows that Josh McCown gives him the best chance to win.
I also think the Jeremy Bates would prefer to take it slow with Darnold and let McCown start, at least until they perhaps fall out of playoff contention.
Bates showed some ankle about how he feels about playing young quarterbacks when he said last year, when pushed about playing Bryce Petty or Christian Hackenberg.
“This is professional football. This isn’t Triple-A,” Bates said on November 14.
So in a strange way, and I know this is a very esoteric point, Darnold missing a little time perhaps would give the Jets a little public leeway in “start the kid immediately” debate.
I’m not saying that the Jets will govern based on public opinion polls.
But less chirping about rushing the kid from the peanut gallery would be helpful to the people at One Jets Drive, who likely want to take it slow with their prized 21-year-old rookie who threw 20 picks in his last 20 games at USC.
There is another off-the-beaten path positive to this holdout – it shows the maturation process of Maccagnan as a GM. Early during his time with the Jets, he gave out some really bad contracts. He’s become a much better negotiator over the last three years. He’s putting up a strong fight against super-agent Jimmy Sexton, who probably figured Maccagnan would have caved by now based on public pressure, but he hasn’t.
July 28, 2018
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