Jets Trade Sam Darnold to Panthers as Zach Wilson Decision Looms

It appears more and more likely that the Jets are going to go all in on Zach Wilson come the NFL Draft in 3-weeks, after the team traded away their former franchise quarterback Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers for a sxith round pick in 2021, and a second and fourth round pick in 2022.

The Darnold era ends sooner than anyone thought it would when the Jets traded up to draft him in 2018. Darnold never had a chance to succeed in New York. The Jets let him down at every step of the way with instability in the front office, buffoonery on the sideline in the form of ex-head coach Adam Gase, and talent that precipitously worse as the years went on.

Sure Darnold didn't play well. He suffered a number of bizarre injuries, i.e. mono. But it was a teamwide effort when it came to failing Darnold. Even Douglas has to take a brunt of the responsibility. He didn't give Darnold an offensive line that could protect him, and as a result he was under center for the leagues' worst team in 2020.

Now Darnold is off to Carolina to resurrect a career with a talented Panthers team that has ex-Jets receiver Robby Anderson, and head coach Matt Rhule who was a candidate for the Jets job before the Jets opted for Adam Gase. Joe Brady, the much ballyhooed offensive coordinator is down there too. Darnold has a shot now that he never got in New York. We wish him well. He deserves better.

Now the pressure is exclusively on Douglas to get this right.

A lot of people have sold their souls into the belief that Zach Wilson will be a stud in the NFL. That remains to be seen for a quarterback who played a week schedule for little seen BYU. Justin Fields is probably the safer pick at quarterback at this point, but it appears the Jets are all in on Wilson if you read the tea leaves.

Wilson better be good. He better live up to the hype. He better be a vast improvement over Darnold, or Douglas and Robert Saleh will never hear the end of it.

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