Getting taken 3rd overall in the NFL draft means something. Or at least it did once. The Jets used the 3rd overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft to take Sam Darnold and make him their starting quarterback. After a three year trial run, the experiment with Sam in New York is over. The Jets announced today that they traded Darnold to the Carolina Panthers for a 2021 NFL Draft sixth-round pick (No. 226) plus second- and fourth-round selections in the 2022 draft.
During his three year tenure as the Jets signal caller, Sam went 13-25 as a starter, threw for 8,097 yards, with 45 touchdowns and 39 interceptions. To be fair to Sam, he had flashes in which he looked like he could be the next star in the making as the QB in New York. More often then not, however, it wasn't there. There was too much inconsistency in New York, It was either Sam couldn't stay healthy, which the Jets went 0-10 without Sam on the field in his three seasons. When Sam was healthy and played, there was so much change over with Gang Green I'm surprised Sam knew which end was up.
He went through two different head coaches, the second of which was a horrible decision to begin with. He had a couple of different offensive coordinators, and he lost quite a few of his offensive weapons around him. He actually had decent chemistry with Robbie Anderson before the Jets let him walk away in free agency to Carolina, which is now ironic that the two are now back together again in the Queen City.
This actually has the potential to be good upside for Carolina. Look they tried Teddy Bridgewater, and he was alright. Bridgewater threw for 3,733 yards, 15 touchdowns and 11 interceptions in 15 starts. Those numbers aren't horrible, but they aren't exactly the answers either in Carolina. At least not in the long term. Its obvious that the Panthers are in a rebuild and they brought Sam in to try and take it over with a fresh start to see what he can really do. He's back together with Robbie Anderson. He's got a star back in Christian McCaffery to hand the ball to. Lets see if he can actually do something here.
The same thing goes for the Jets with getting more picks and still maintaining the second overall pick in the draft coming up. Zach Wilson, the Quarterback out of BYU looks to be heading to New York according to some of the latest mock drafts. I don't put much stock into that stuff myself, but that's what its looking like. Hopefully this can actually be something solid for the Jets. I for one, as a Jets fan, am getting sick and tired of seeing all the constant changes with this team on the coaching staff and players its driving me up the wall. Its been ten years since the last playoff appearance and the losing is starting to take its toll. So hopefully for this trade can work out for all parties involved.
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