NY Jets get great value in return for Sam Darnold trade

The NY Jets finally pulled the trigger on a Sam Darnold trade earlier on Monday sending the former third overall pick to the Carolina Panthers. And in return, they received a pretty sizable haul.

As first reported by ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Jets received a 2021 sixth-round pick as well as second and fourth-round picks in 2022. Given the state of Darnold’s market, that’s about as good of a value as they could have expected.

NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that the Panthers were really the only team in on Darnold by the time the deal was finalized. The two teams had been in contact for weeks with Carolina essentially bidding against themselves.

Despite this, the Jets managed to get a haul that many weren’t expecting them to receive. It’s hard to argue with the value here.

The NY Jets managed to get excellent value for Sam Darnold

If the two future picks were 2021 selections, the Jets would have just received a draft value of 580, using Draft Tek’s NFL trade value chart. That’s the equivalent of the No. 33 overall pick in the draft, just outside the first round.

Of course, you have to deduct some value seeing as these are future picks and we also don’t know where they will fall. However, it’s safe to say that the return they received was better than most expected.

Especially when you consider that the Panthers were the only team bidding for Darnold in the end.

Original reports from earlier in the offseason indicated that the Jets could be looking for as high as a late first-round pick for Darnold. However, as the weeks went on, it became more evident what a realistic package was.

The most recent reports stated that many NFL executives weren’t even sure if Darnold was worth a third-round pick.

The fact that the Jets were able to get what is likely the equivalent of an early second-round pick in return for Darnold is nothing short of exceptional.

And it continues a trend of general manager Joe Douglas maximizing the value of his assets in trades. Look no further than the Jamal Adams trade for proof of that.

The Jets were never going to realistically consider holding on to Darnold if they drafted a quarterback. So once the decision was made to move on, they knew they had to get the highest value back in return.

They managed to do just that.

It was time for a fresh start — both for Sam Darnold and the Jets. This trade accomplishes that and provides the team with a suitable return package.