While all the conversation around the New York Jets’ quarterback position has been focused on the other options the team has at the position, some have openly wondered whether the team has mishandled the situation involving its incumbent starter Sam Darnold.
With teams around the NFL now expecting Gang Green to select a quarterback with the #2 overall pick in April’s draft and the list of potential suitors for Darnold dwindling after moves made by other teams, it would stand to reason that Jets’ leverage in a potential trade would be lower than expected and the return they would be expecting for the former USC star signal-caller would have shrunk as a result.
That’s essentially what ESPN’s Kimberley Martin reported this morning on “Get Up”, saying that she talked to three NFL general managers and she was led to believe the Jets getting a 2nd rounder for Darnold is highly unlikely.
Just mentioned this on @GetUpESPN: Talked to three NFL GMs about the market for Sam Darnold. I asked what’s the most they’d be willing to give up: Two said a 3rd Rd pick — with one saying even a late 3rd would be “a little rich.” The other GM said “maybe” a 3rd or conditional 4th
— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) March 29, 2021
… I was repeatedly told whoever trades for Darnold likely won’t pick up his option this spring. So, you’d only have a year of him in a new org, in a new system, working w/ new teammates while he’s trying to figure it all out *and* the team is trying to work out his bad habits
— Kimberley A. Martin (@ByKimberleyA) March 29, 2021
Even with that being the case, though, our friends at uStadium say there is reason for Gang Green to be optimistic about getting the 2nd round pick they believe Darnold is worth:
They have enough teams interested that they still expect to get a 2nd. https://t.co/dbZ7qudPzc
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) March 29, 2021
If the Jets are able to still get a 2nd rounder for Darnold at this point, it would surprise some people, although it would not be the first time Gang Green’s general manager Joe Douglas would have gotten more than expected for a player he was trading, as seemingly nobody expected him to get 2 1st round picks for disgruntled former safety Jamal Adams before the multiple time All Pro was shipped to Seattle for 2 1sts and a 3rd.
So, with the expectation that Darnold will almost certainly be traded, when can we expect that to happen and who might still be in the mix?
MMQB’s Albert Breer believes he has a pretty good idea, divulging the following information in his column this morning:
As for where Darnold could wind up next? I’d keep an eye on Carolina and Pittsburgh. Darnold would represent a worthy, and affordable, dart to throw at the quarterback board if the Panthers are convinced the quarterbacks they’d want will be gone by the time they pick at wight (and Atlanta having the fourth pick doesn’t help them). As for the Steelers, if the price is right they could see some similarities in how Darnold plays to how their own quarterback did in his early 20s, and throw Darnold in there to compete with Dwayne Haskins to be Ben Roethlisberger’s heir. Washington and Denver have also come up as possible landing spots, though I know each had some misgivings on his tape.