NOTE: Management inserted Mr. Met in the cover photo. His expression says all that needs to be said.
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ: The Jets ended the speculation and moved on from Sam Darnold, trading him to Carolina for a 2nd, 4th and 6th round pick(s). 
The #3 pick out of USC wasn’t exactly surrounded with talent and skilled coaches in his three year stint in New York, to say the least. Some thought the Jets should surround him with better players and give him a fighting chance. Now it’s clear they’re going to take Zach Wilson, the BYU rookie. Was it the right move?
Sam I Am, Traded
The Jets were in a tough spot. The team has been known to F’ things up now and again, and this scenario presents several ways to get there. In my opinion, Darnold has shown enough for me to think he’s not very good. I mean, Joe Flacco outplayed him last year. But, with Adam Gase running the offense and a set of skill players inferior to 4 or 5 college programs, it’s hard to be sure that he was the problem. It was one of those nature vs nurture conundrums. Yeah, that’s it.
Could he develop with a decent coach and some weapons? It’s definitely possible. Just dumping it off to McCaffrey and throwing bubble screens to Robbie Anderson and DJ Moore should quickly bump him up at least one notch. Of course, that would put him at notch one.
Zach Off
So it’ll be Zach. Going in to the offseason he was considered a late first rounder, with Justin Fields way ahead of him. But his stock shot through the moon and he has plenty of skill.
He has had only one good year in college. His 2019 stats were not impressive. I remember a guy named Mark Sanchez who was drafted pretty early after one good year in college. #Buttfumbler.
And go ahead and peruse the list of QBs drafted in the first round over the last 10 years. For every Patrick Mahomes, there’s a Mitch Trubisky and a Blake Bortles. First round QBs hit about one in three times. Even the top pick is no lock – Jameis Winston, Sam Bradford, Jared Goff, etc. Oh right, the Jets pissed away the top pick. My bad, I forgot.
Maybe he’ll be a hit and become the best athlete of all time named “Zach” (ending with h or k). Right now I have Zack Martin, Zach Randolph, Zach Britton, and Zack Wheeler in a close battle.
The worst case scenario for the Jets is Wilson doesn’t pan out and Darnold proves capable in Carolina. (Incidentally, Capable In Carolina was a romcom about a disabled man looking for love that I pitched to Warner Brothers a few years ago. They told me to add a super hero and rewrite it). This worst case scenario could definitely happen.
The Jets decided to move on and I think it was the right move. Buyers on Darnold were limited with several teams in position to draft a QB. You could see the Panthers and maybe the Broncos as suitors, but that’s about it. The Pats might have rolled the dice but there is no way the Jets were taking that chance. The Pats could have offered five first round draft picks and Bob Kraft’s personal masseuse and the Jets would have hung up the phone. So with a limited market, getting a second, fourth, and a sixth for him seems like a decent enough haul.
Reunited and it Feels So Good
When they drafted Darnold, they opted to hold on to Josh McCown instead of Teddy Bridgewater. Maybe Teddy will get another chance to be Sam’s mentor. I feel like Bridgewater is the ideal backup QB. He can come in and hold the fort for you while your main guy is down. But he’s not gonna be the franchise.
Robbie Anderson bolted after two 700+ yard seasons with Sam. And now after a 1,000 yard season with Teddy, Darnold follows him to Carolina. He must be thrilled, but maybe he’ll get a better version.
What Say You?
In the end I think it’s the right move for the J-E-T-S. It’s a high risk move, as Wilson might suck and Sam could revitalize his career outside of the glare of New York. But after three years of sh!t from Sam, it was time to get off the pot. The last thing they want is to waste another two years to confirm he’s not the guy.
The Jets have a load of draft picks to build around Wilson. With a good draft and some patience, the Jets could be on their way to building something nice. But, they can’t really have nice things, so they’ll probably F it up.
Who do you think of the trade? Come back tomorrow for Angry Ward, a big Zac Efron fan. Follow us on Twitter at @benwhit, @MeetTheMatts, @Matt_McCarthy00, Instagram @MeetTheMatts and like our Facebook page, Meet The Matts.
