The biggest obstacle the Jets must overcome in 2018

NFL Spin Zone recently picked every team’s biggest obstacle this upcoming season. For the New York Jets, it’s all about when rookie quarterback Sam Darnold plays.

For what seems like forever now, the New York Jets continue to try everything and anything to find consistency at quarterback. They’ve tried numerous young quarterbacks over the years and all have failed. The tried-and-true method of constantly bringing in aging veteran quarterbacks can only go so far in the grand scheme of things.

All that will hopefully about to change once and for all within the next few years. The Jets boldly traded up in this year’s draft to select a potential future franchise quarterback in Sam Darnold. Despite a small holdout due to his rookie contract, Darnold is ready to compete and start progressing towards pushing the Jets into being contenders again.

But what happens if the Jets don’t go with Darnold to start the year? Ideally, the Jets have veterans ready to hold the fort until Darnold’s number is called but that might be a big problem. Darnold looks to be a high-quality quarterback and the faster he gets real regular season experience, the faster he will progress.

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The Jets need to take a page out of the books of other teams that when they draft a quarterback that high, they should be more than capable of starting that very year. Unfortunately, in this particular case, McCown is already doing well and is firmly on top of the depth chart at quarterback for now.

In an article written by Dan Parzych of NFL Spin Zone, here is why the biggest obstacle facing the Jets in 2018 is not unleashing Darnold to start the regular season:

New York may want to strongly consider using Darnold as soon as possible under center since gaining experience as a rookie could payoff in a big way down the road. Yes, some teams prefer to have their rookie quarterbacks spend a year learning behind key veterans, but the Jets simply have nothing to lose at this point since nobody is expecting them to be serious contenders in the AFC, whether they want to hear it or not.

Parzych is completely correct as for once, it would be nice to see a young and promising rookie quarterback start the season for the Jets. Yes, there will be growing pains but that is what real experience will do which would undoubtedly help Darnold progress faster than just being on the sideline studying on a tablet for the next few months.

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Overall, if the Jets start the season with McCown for the second straight year, it will be a guessing game as to when Darnold will eventually be given the green light to start under center. He might have to wait until an unfortunate injury hits McCown or that he doesn’t play well enough to win football games. Either way, the faster the Jets start Darnold, the faster he will develop to finally begin his era on the Jets. The longer the Jets wait to start Darnold, the longer they’ll continue being on the outside looking in.