New York Jets: Sam Darnold is still the quarterback of the future

Many are doubting New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold, but it is not time to give up on him so soon. He still remains the quarterback of the future.

New York Jets fans and people around the organization are starting to have questions about Sam Darnold when considering his past two performances.

In the previous two games, Darnold has thrown seven interceptions while “seeing ghosts” against the New England Patriots defense. It is hard enough to play defense in the NFL, but seeing players that are not there makes it that much harder.

Even with the consecutive poor outings for Darnold, there needs to be consideration of the supporting cast around him. Not one of his receivers people would consider a true number one, and Robby Anderson has been disappointing even with the previous trade rumors.

Young emerging tight end Chris Herndon is injured, leaving Darnold with even fewer weapons.  Even worse than the wide receiving core is the offensive line, which gives the quarterback almost no time to throw the ball.

Want your voice heard? Join the The Jet Press team!

Write for us!

Some of the best coaches in the league have complimented Darnold realizing his talent, regardless of the result in the game. Bill Belichick compared Sam Darnold to Ben Roethlisberger in an interview prior to the team’s Week 7 meeting.

Roethlisberger won a Super Bowl and is still playing at a Pro Bowl level for the Pittsburgh Steelers — despite his season-ending injury — which demonstrates the potential Belichick sees.

During many games in his career, Darnold showed moments of greatness flashing his athleticism. He rolled out in 2018 to complete a touchdown pass on the dead run against the Buffalo Bills, making every highlight reel.

This year Darnold dominated the Cowboys defense in a 24-22 win during his comeback game from mononucleosis.

Darnold can hit most of his throws when he has more than a couple of seconds in the pocket. The inaccuracy that most people see during the games is mostly due to the poor play up front leaving him with no choice but to rush the throws.

Adding Le’Veon Bell to any team makes them better, but when the offensive line does not block, it does not give Darnold the advantage of having a successful run game.

When the quarterback came out of USC, the one main concern was his turnovers issues. Darnold would have great games in college that followed ones full of interceptions, which led people to question his future.

More from The Jet Press

• NY Jets: Jonnu Smith would be a smart free-agent target
• NY Jets: 3 non-quarterback trade targets on offense
• NY Jets expected to be ‘much more aggressive’ in free agency this year
• NY Jets: Patriots will not use the franchise tag on Joe Thuney
• NY Jets officially place the franchise tag on safety Marcus Maye

The same thing is happening at the professional level and if the Jets want to win games, they need to continue to belive in Darnold.

The Jets hired Adam Gase, a quarterback guru to some, in the offseason to help Darnold and it certainly has not worked. Gase has made him look worse in many situations, such as against the Patriots, which brings the quarterback’s stock down.

When the Patriots sent the house, the Jets were running deep routes, but the receivers do not have enough time to complete their routes. If shorter routes were called, Darnold would get the ball quickly out of his hands and look tremendously better.

Jets fans need to hang in there and let Sam Darnold continue to develop. As Gang Green puts more pieces around him, Darnold will look better as time goes on.

The only reason people are not getting the Darnold they want to see is the current lack of a supporting cast and it is certainly not time to give up.