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This story is the rage.
Touched on it a little on Tuesday, and will get into more today.
It involves the revelation from new Jets receiver Corey Davis during his introductory presser conference Tuesday morning.
Davis was asked about who he was told the Jets’ QB was going to be.
“Obviously I’m coming in with my understand that Sam (Darnold) is the guy,” said Davis. “That doesn’t scare me away at all. I’ve seen Sam do great things.”
He was asked a follow-up question to reiterate if he was told that Darnold would be the QB.
“Yes, that’s my understanding,” said Davis.
This became big news, and I’m not judging anybody’s news judgement. This is a big story on the surface.
With all the rumors about the Jets potentially picking a quarterback with the second pick, perhaps BYU’s Zach Wilson, this has led to speculation that the Jets will trade Darnold.
And Jets GM Joe Douglas said he would take calls from teams interested in Darnold. That is his policy on all players. Taking calls on players doesn’t mean you are shopping them.
So what does Davis’ revelation truly mean?
My first thought was: “What did you expect Joe Douglas to say to him at this point, ‘it’s my intention to trade Sam Darnold and draft Zach Wilson?'”
Right now, Darnold is the QB, as the incumbent, and with the draft over a month away.
These things can change.
Davis also said about the Jets’ QB situation: “The situation is what it is.”
Which is kind of a vague way of saying it’s perhaps a fluid situation.
And reading the tea leaves, you get the sense, that Davis signed with the Jets because they made him a great offer, and the QB situation was secondary.
It has not been a great year for free agent wide receivers. A lot of guys got one-year deals, like JuJu Smith-Schuster (Pittsburgh), Will Fuller (Miami) A.J. Green (Arizona), Breshad Perriman (Detroit) and Keelan Cole (Jets), to name a few.
Davis got one of the better free agents deals, a three-year contract for $37.5 million with $27 million guaranteed, which looks like the second best contract for free agent wide receivers, behind Kenny Golladay’s deal with the Giants.
So this isn’t a situation where Davis predicated his decision on who the quarterback was going to be.
If the Jets go with somebody else, he will roll with that. Who the quarterback was going to be wasn’t go to make or break the deal.
You saw some headlines after Davis’ statement that Darnold will “be the Jets QB in 2021.”
I can’t assure you that’s inaccurate and here is why:
Yes, it’s possible they keep him and start the season with him as a starter, but Saleh and Douglas aren’t going to hand the entire season to
Darnold in 2021, whether he struggles or not. He’s not getting a carte blanche this year.
If he happens to the be the starting QB at the beginning of the season, but doesn’t play well, Saleh/Douglas aren’t just going to roll with him the entire season come heck or high water. No way.
I’m not saying he would be on a short leash, but he also won’t be handed the entire season with no strings attached to how he plays.
No way. That won’t fly in the locker room.
And remember, they are attempting to build a strong football culture, and if you want to do that, you can’t play guys not getting the job done. Strong football cultures all have a meritocracy.
March 24, 2021
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