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It’s being debated all over the place.
Every where you turn on the cable sports debate shows, they are debating: “Should the Jets stick with Sam Darnold or trade him?”
They are having a field day with this topic.
FSI’s Colin Cowherd had this take yesterday:
“Sam Darnold, the slander on him is outrageous and I’m deeply offended,” said Cowherd. “Twenty-three year-old-kid from New York, played at USC. He’s got big brands. Jets, USC, 23 years old. Playmaker, big arm, runs around, makes mistakes, gets talked about.”
What does “big brands” have to do with anything?
Nothing.
And where is the slander?
Stating things a player struggles with is not slander.
Yes, he has a big arm and can make plays with his feet, but those two things have nothing to do with the issues at hand here.
The issues are related to bird-dogging passes to his primary read and not going through his progressions efficiently.
It has nothing to do with his arm or running ability.
Cowherd thinks the Carolina Panthers should trade for Darnold.
“Carolina’s got the decisive, impatient billionaire business guy (David Tepper) who made a lot of money and he made it fast and he makes big-boy decisions. And Carolina, he’s had them for several years. They’re boring.
“Roll the dice for two years on Sam Darnold.”
Sounds like a good idea.
The Panthers were very interested in trading for Houston’s DeShaun Watson, but now with the quarterback’s legal issues, that trade is probably a long shot.
So why not trade for Darnold?
Sounds like a plan.
What is not a great idea, and this pertains to the Jets as well, is owners making quarterback decisions. That almost never works, like the Washington owner, pushing for Robert Griffin and then Dwayne Haskins. It looks like he’s finally learned his lesson and will let “Riverboat” Ron Rivera make the calls on personnel decisions.
Woody Johnson was very involved in the decision to trade up to pick Mark Sanchez. He went out to Los Angeles with Mike Tannenbaum and Rex Ryan to scout and visit with the player before the draft.
It looks like the Jets’ owner has taken a step back from this kind of involvement, with he and his brother, Chris, making Joe Douglas the boss of the entire football operation, including being the coach’s boss.
This is the best approach. Owners scouting and picking quarterbacks is not a good idea.
If Tepper is involved in getting a new quarterback for the Panthers, let’s keep in mind, he is a long-time resident of Livingston, New Jersey (though he reportedly spends more time in Florida now for tax reasons), which is about 20 minutes from Jets camp in Florham Park.
He’s been around the Jets neck of the woods, so he definitely is pretty attuned to Darnold and his career with Gang Green, and has probably talked a lot about Darnold with neighbors and friends.
So it would probably be good for the Jets if Tepper pushes for a Darnold trade.
Perhaps owner involvement in Carolina in QB decisions could help the Jets land a quality draft pick for Darnold.
But you get the sense that Woody and Christopher, know at this point of their ownership, after 10 years out of the playoffs, to let Douglas (with heavy input from Robert Saleh), decide what to do a QB, vis-a-vis Darnold and Zach Wilson.
March 31, 2021
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