Sam Darnold’s career as a member of the New York Jets was nothing but a colossal failure. The 23 year old Darnold compiled a career record of 13-25, and tossed 39 interceptions in 38 starts.
There’s no denying that Darnold did not perform up to expectations in New York. Some of his turnovers are inexcusable, and it’s a concern going forward, but his failures were not entirely on him.
The Jets did not properly set Darnold up for success. A great deal of his failures were on the team for failing to surround him with adequate coaching, an adequate offensive line, or adequate skill-position players. These issues started at the beginning of his tenure in New York, and become worse and worse as time progressed.
This isn’t an opinion, it’s a fact.
Darnold went through two head coaching regimes, along with two offensive coordinators. Darnold was sacked 68 times in his last 25 games. In 2020, he was sacked in 8.8% of his dropbacks which was the third highest in the NFL. On top of that, Jamison Crowder and Braxton Berrios were his two leading receivers last season. 37 year old Frank Gore was the team’s leading rusher.
This isn’t a 2020 problem, this has been an on-going issue since the day he inked his first NFL contract.
How is a young quarterback supposed to succeed in those circumstances?
The answer is they can’t.
Former Jets head coach, Adam Gase was brought in to help Darnold, but he he failed mightily. Gase did not help Darnold grow as a young player. He clearly regressed under him. By the end of the 2020 season, Darnold’s confidence had evaporated. He was visibly frustrated, and the whole fan base rooted for Darnold to lose every single game.
That’s a tough pill for a young player to swallow.
We all saw what happened when Ryan Tannehill left Adam Gase and Miami. Since leaving Gase’s watch, Tannehill is 18-8 in the regular season, and reached the AFC Championship game.
Before going to Tennessee, Tannehill was a punch-line. A failed experiment, a back-up at best. The same things keep being brought up about Darnold…
But, the Jets found a team willing to give Sam Darnold another chance.
And that team, the Carolina Panthers, present Darnold with a great chance to get his career back on track.
The Panthers acquired Darnold for a 2021 sixth-round pick, plus a second and fourth-round pick in 2022.
The Panthers have been dying to get their hands on a franchise quarterback, as they have been pretty much linked to everyone on the quarterback market.
Panthers quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater was inconsistent, and has a limited ceiling.
Most people expected the Panthers to take a quarterback with the eighth-overall pick of the draft. But, Carolina decided to roll the dice with Darnold.
It’s very possible that the Jets evaluated Darnold as if he was one of the quarterbacks in this draft class.
The Panthers give Darnold the luxury of stability on the offensive line, skill-position players such as D.J. Moore and Robbie Anderson, to go along with Christian McCaffery.
Sam Darnold will now also have Matt Rhule as his head coach, and Joe Brady as his offensive coordinator. Both are far and away massive upgrades from his tenure in New York.
Brady is considered to be one of most promising, young offensive minds in football, and Rhule is one of the best young, culture builders in the NFL. In 2020, the Panthers lost six games by seven or fewer points. They have the pieces, and seem like a team that are good quarterback play away from being a playoff contender.
Will Darnold be a step up from Teddy Bridgewater?
He will be undoubtably be an upgrade.
Get ready to buy your stock in Sam Darnold, because he’s going to take the league by storm in Carolina.