I just don't remember him being as bad as Zach Wilson. Maybe his arm strength wasn't there, or maybe he wasn't "athletic enough"? I just don't remember Sam Darnold making the mental errors Zach Wilson is making. Can someone remind me of his issues?
Not even close. zach is miles worse. It felt like in the right situation sam could be fine, the team around him stunk. zach is just bringing everyone else down with him.
Darnold was a good amount better. He threw for more touchdowns and yards, and turned the ball over at a similar rate. Something happened year three where he just fell apart. His third season was about on par with Zach's rookie season. Maybe it was the seeing ghosts game. He wasn't a stud or anything, but people were very hyped on Darnold going into year three. He was on an upward trajectory for sure. Jets really set him up to fail IMO. I'd love to see what Darnold could have done with Breece at RB and G.Wilson at WR.
Darnold had nothing to work with here. Bad OL, coaching, and skill talent. His WRs in 2020 were Breshad Perriman, Denzel Mims, and Jamison Crowder.
Sam was better. He was like Justin Fields, Zach is like Josh Rosen. Difference is a good backup vs. out of the league.
Sam ran a competent offense and while he wasn’t always right he knew how to hit his back foot and throw. He also understood touch. He was ultimately a bust and sucked but man did it look like he had some resemblance of a clue out there.
Of course not. I'm not sure people are understanding. There are people who are not good, and busts and middling and wont get you where you want to go. And then there is Z - seemingly the literal worst QB of all time. This isnt hyperbole. Every single stat and metric backs it up. Its cruel and unusual at this point that we keep rolling him out there. No one this bad has ever been allowed to play this long in the league. I mean they figured out Josh Rosen was trash within a year and he was done. Its literally insane he's still our qb, and somehow even crazier that Tim Boyle is our backup. I don't understand whats going on. Truly bizarre.
And the guy named Jeff that he met in college. That was what passed for "getting Sam help" during that time. Pathetic.
Sam was bad enough to make everyone lose their minds and immediately rush into another high round QB bust. Like that was the solution to all our problems.
From the way I remember it, Wilson started better than Darnold. However, like every Jet QB in recent memory, they progressively worsen. Sanchez, Geno, Sam, and Zach all had promising moments that became less and less. Darnold's arm strength and athleticism were fine. To me, the lack of offensive talent on the line and in skilled positions made his interceptions unbearable. Darnold played with the only offensive-minded head coach I remember. Gase was so bad, though. It's a reminder that Saleh may be doing the Jets a favor by seemingly ignoring the offense. I think the Jets believe that if they try hard enough, they can find a QB who can make up for a leaky line and make everyone around him better, including the coaches. How many QBs are in the league now who you can say would be great no matter what team they play on? I don't watch enough football to tell, but I think it's between zero and three. I frequently wonder who got the best and worst screwing from the Jets. Sanchez had to be the worst. He lost his leading receiver every year. Zach may have had the best opportunity. The team has gotten better every year around him. Actually, the only QB the Jets drafted high and may have done right by is Christian Hackenberg. No evidence the Jets did anything to screw him up. On a positive note, Zach, who I haven't given up on quite yet, will have a better game this week.
there were some of us who said the Jets shoulda hung onto him and took someone else at the top of the 2021 NFL draft
No, he wasn't anywhere near this bad. If we had kept Sam Darnold and drafted Penei Sewell (as I advocated at the time), we'd still be talking about the playoffs right now. Sam played behind an offensive line which is (as hard as this is to believe) worse than what we have right now.
he is on the 49ers now as a Bup... good for him. As others stated his decisions at times were poor but I remember against the 49ers team he threw the same ball the ZW did during his pror day that went for a TD. Poor coaching, poor OL, Poor WR.... that was his tenure and he still won games.
Sam got screwed. He was another in a long line of young QBs who were failed by the Jets. Had he gotten the proper development, coaching, and talent around him he could've been good enough to get them to a SB. But he never had the physical talent that Zach has. What really did Sam in was the "seeing ghosts" game from which I don't think he ever - to this day - recovered from. And though that wasn't his fault, it was clear they had to move on from him. And had the Jets actually lived up to the promise Douglas made to him on Draft Night, Zach might've been the remedy, but once again, the Jets followed their "development plan" of OTJ training being enough. And once again we have a ruined and failed young QB.
