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Sunday in New England marks the merciful end of the Jets’ 2020 season.
This is expected to be the end for their head coach Adam Gase, who will likely be sacked before breakfast on Monday after two unsatisfying seasons.
The roster as we know it now will be very different in 2021. The bigger question is whether the quarterback will be any different.
Before the Jets start winning games – two in a row in Sunday’s season finale against the Patriots – to ruin their chances of winning the No. 1 pick in the draft and a chance against Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence, that answer seemed somewhat clear. It would have been a major shake-up if the Jets hadn’t drafted Lawrence and left Darnold after three inconsistent seasons (13-24 record, 44 TDs, 37 interceptions).
But Lawrence is no longer part of the conversation for the Jets, who own the second pick – likely after the Jaguars drafted Lawrence with the first pick.
So what to do with Darnold now?
Here’s what: Unless Jets general manager Joe Douglas has the same kind of must-see condemnation about Justin Fields from Ohio State, Zach Wilson from BYU, Trey Lance from State from North Dakota or another draft-eligible quarterback in April that he might have had about Lawrence, he should keep Darnold and build a good team around him.
Douglas has nine picks in the 21 draft and nearly $ 100 million in salary cap. If he can’t put enough competent players around Darnold and a solid offensive line in front of him, then Douglas is not worthy of the six-year contract Jets CEO Christopher Johnson has given him.
If the worst thing that happens to the Jets quarterback position is to reunite with Darnold next season with a stronger supporting cast around him, that’s not a bad thing.
The debate around Darnold has been raging for two seasons and it centers on this: Is his inconsistency the result of his own shortcomings or the shortcomings of those around him?
The answer, of course, is a combination of the two. The question is which one is more weighted?
Darnold, no matter how bad his offensive line has been and how limited his skill-position talent has been, cannot be completely exonerated for his too many changes and questionable decision-making.
“It’s about consistency and it’s also about consistency with the guys around you,” Gase said Thursday, convinced Darnold has what it takes to lead the Jets forward with a cast. competent around him. “When you are a young player you have to have around you a core of grassroots players that you can grow up with, who can help you develop as a player. ”
Darnold has played the last three games without returning the ball once, which is an important step. It’s no coincidence that his top three receivers – Jamison Crowder, Breshad Perriman and Denzel Mims – returned from injuries in those games.
“The quarterback position takes a lot of responsibility for everything [bad] it happens and a lot of times it’s not on them, ” Gase said. “Do I think we need to improve in some places with [Darnold]? Yeah, absolutely. Do I think he’s been to the point where everything should be falling on him? No no.
“If we can clean some things it would really help him in the decision making, the precision, the timing. But we have to have some consistency in terms of the guys who are with him. ”
The counter-argument, however, is that Darnold didn’t elevate those around him the way elite quarterbacks are able to do despite the shortcomings of their supporting cast (see: Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers).
“The only thing I asked you was which quarterbacks are you talking about that didn’t have a good cast around them?” “We can go around in circles on this. ”
Those circles include Cincinnati, where rookie Joe Burrow, the No. 1 overall pick last spring, threw for 300 yards or more in five of his 10 starts before a ripped ACL ended his rookie season. But he was throwing at a much better receiving body than the Jets – Tee Higgins, Tyler Boyd and AJ Green.
They include LA, where Justin Herbert threw for 300 yards or more in his 14 starts for the Chargers, but he throws at Keenan Allen, Mike Williams and Hunter Henry, one of the best tight ends in the game.
Darnold has passed to nine different receivers and six different forwarders this season. Some of these players are not NFL caliber.
So should Darnold stay with a better cast around him or should the Jets give up a 23-year-old who they spent a third-place pick in the draft just three years ago?
“I know we all like to think about assumptions and assumptions, but I’m a Jet right now and I love being here,” Darnold said Thursday. “I absolutely believe my best days are yet to come. ”
For his sake and that of the Jets, I hope those days will come when he wore green and white.
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