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This former GM sums up why they made the change.
Former Tampa Bay Buccaneers GM Mark Dominick had a great breakdown on why the Jets transitioned from Sam Darnold to Zach Wilson.
“I think they are looking for consistency and accuracy,” said Dominick.
Darnold had some special moments, but there was too much inconsistency in between, and it was hard to sustain drives that way. Darnold had a 59.8 completion percentage in his three years with the Jets, so that means almost half his pass attempts hit the ground, and it’s hard to sustain long drives that way.
And obviously being accurate is one important component of having a high completion percentage.
“[Wilson’s] got that touch, almost like where the receivers have magnets in their hands, where he fit that ball in there perfectly,” Dominick said.
Also, the Jets need to cut down on turnovers at the quarterback position. Darnold had 39 picks in 38 starts with the Jets.
“I think they are looking at him and saying Zach can be exceptional with ball placement and also be very exceptional with not turning the ball over, understanding that it is okay to punt,” Dominick said.
Darnold too often would force passes into heavy coverage, which led to some bad picks.
“[Wilson’s] got that mentality to say this isn’t going to work, I’m going to dump it here, dump it over there, I’m going to throw it out of bounds and live for the next downs,” Dominick said.
Dominick feels that while Douglas liked Darnold a lot, Wilson perhaps checks more boxes.
“I feel with Zach, what you like is you feel he has the arm talent,” Dominick said. “He’s got the mental makeup. He shows you that unique ability to be supremely accurate at all three levels of the football fields, and I think that is what made Joe Douglas say, as much as I like Sam Darnold, I like [Wilson] better and we are going to go in that direction,” Dominick said.
That last line sums it up perfectly that Douglas liked Darnold, but perhaps likes Wilson better.
There is an old saying in the scouting world about certain players that they, “leave you wanting more.”
That is a good way to sum up Darnold, and perhaps the world will see more moving forward in Carolina. After all, he is still only 24.
There was an ESPN article a couple of weeks ago with the headline – “Will move to smaller market help Panthers’ Sam Darnold turn around his career?”
The writer David Newton interviewed a number of people who agreed with the premise, like Darnold’s high school coach Jamie Ortiz.
“Sam’s a very old-school, old-soul kind of guy,” said Ortiz. “So maybe the Southern charm of Carolina is something that will fit him very well. The aggressive New York drivers, who give you the middle finger, that’s just not his nature.”
You want to hear a funny story, I was once in Charlotte, and I was the passenger in a car, and the other driver thought the person driving the car I was in was going to slow, and gave us the finger.
I do think Darnold will like be more comfortable in the smaller, less aggressive Charlotte media market.
However, not sure if that will help some of the shortcomings in his game. We shall see.
But Dominick totally understands why Douglas decided to transition to Wilson, and it wasn’t just related to market-size.
July 8, 2021
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