Should The Jets Move On From Sam Darnold?

The Jets are off to another subpar season with an 0-6 start. The defensive play has been awful, but somehow the offense has been even worse. To put a fine point on it, the New York Jets were shutout in week 6 against the Miami Dolphins. The play has indicated that this could become a regular occurrence. With this horrendous play, we are left with one glaring question; Should the Jets move on from Sam Darnold?

Let’s Look At The Stats

Before we answer this burning question, we need to first examine Darnold’s play on the stat sheet. First, it’s worth mentioning that Sam has been benched in weeks 5 & 6 due to a shoulder strain. Through the first four weeks that Darnold has started, he has completed 59.4% of his passes for 792 yds, 3 TDs, 4 INTs, 12 sacks, and posted an average of 70.7 QBR. This stat line is on par with his career as well. In his career, Darnold has completed 59.8% of his passes for 6681 yds, 39 TDs, 32 INTs, 75 sacks, and a 79.6 QBR. Sam Darnold has not lived up to his number 3 draft pick. The Jets thought they got lucky when Darnold fell into their laps, to date, it hasn’t worked out for them.

Factors Outside The Stats

There is more to Darnold’s poor performance than just his mediocre stats. Breaking down the tape shows that Darnold may not be entirely at fault. To start, Sam has played under two different HCs in just three years. First Todd Bowles for his rookie season, then Adam Gase for the last two seasons. These two coaches have completely different systems and that puts added difficulty to a young player. Not only did Darnold have to deal with a changing of the guard, but he has never had a true complement of offensive weapons. RB Le’Veon Bell spent a short time with the Jets and was the only standout weapon. “Standout weapon” being a loose term here as Le’Veon never lived up to his Pittsburgh Steelers days for the New York Jets. Outside of Bell, Darnold has had blue-chip receivers, at best, that has been riddled with injury.

So, Should The Jets Move On From Sam Darnold?

In conclusion: Yes, but in the end, it doesn’t matter. Sam has shown that he can be a decent and serviceable QB, but he’s already been ruined for the Jets. Darnold’s fate in New York was sealed the second he was quoted as saying he “was seeing ghosts” last season. His scared play is reflected in him making the wrong reads and make bad decisions. Sam Darnold’s name will forever be synonymous with Mark Sanchez; “great” USC QBs that got their careers killed by the New York Jets. No matter what the Jets do, their first move needs to be firing the fraud that is Adam Gase. If they don’t fire Gase and try to move on from Darnold, they will simply ruin another QBs career. Knowing the Jets luck, Darnold will go the way of Tannehill and go on to have a great year with his new team.