The New York Jets have drafted a Super Bowl-winning quarterback, after all. The only problem was that Sam Darnold was lifting the Lombardi Trophy as a member of the Seattle Seahawks.
Regardless, Seattle’s 29-13 victory in Super Bowl LX on Sunday night was the lesser of the two evils encountered by most Jets fans, considering the alternative was to see their arch-rival New England Patriots win a seventh title in the last 24 years.
By no means did Darnold light up the stat sheet on pro football’s largest stage. He completed 19 of 38 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, while his running back and Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth Walker, went off for 135 yards on 27 carries. Kicker Jason Myers set a new Super Bowl record with five field goals, and the Seahawks’ defense took the Patriots’ offensive line to lunch to the tune of seven sacks.
What he did do was be the type of game manager necessary to navigate an aggressive Patriots defense and limit mistakes. And with that, a redemption arc that not many young quarterbacks who did not pan out in their first few years get to experience was complete.
More often than not, the best young passing prospects are roped into the most poorly run organizations. That’s how the draft works, and the sentiment from the league is right. But we see plenty of teams that do not know what to do with promising, raw talent once they arrive in their systems.
The Jets might embody those failures more than any other team in the NFL, with Darnold — taken No. 3 overall by Gang Green in 2018 — leading the way.
Over the last 15 years, they ran Mark Sanchez out of town, had a nightmare go at it with Geno Smith, and disposed of Zach Wilson.
Darnold was reduced to rubble at the Meadowlands. He missed too many games, did not complete enough passes, and did not win enough games. He went 13-25 as the Jets’ starter, completed a paltry 59.8% of his passes, and threw 39 interceptions compared to just 45 touchdowns in 38 games.
His worst moment came during an October Monday-night primetime clash in 2019 against the Patriots, when, with the Jets trailing 33-0, Darnold told his coaches on the bench, “I’m seeing ghosts.” He completed just 11 of 32 passes for a career-worst 86 yards, four interceptions, and a fumble.
By the end of the 2020 season, he was traded to the Carolina Panthers, another victim of a promising talent who was never going to succeed in New York because the foundation overseen by Woody Johnson was — and, in many ways, still is, until proven otherwise — rotten to the core.
What Darnold did that the others mostly didn’t was bet on himself and take the lesser-used, methodical route to rebuild himself after two failed seasons in Carolina.
He took a backup role with the San Francisco 49ers, who lost Super Bowl LVIII with Brock Purdy at the helm. Then was thrust into the starting role in Minnesota a year later when their first-round pick, JJ McCarthy, went down with a season-ending injury during the exhibition slate.
While many remember the finish of that season — duds in Week 18 and the Wild Card Round — Darnold had a career year: 4,319 yards, 35 touchdowns, 12 interceptions. Yet it wasn’t good enough for the Vikings to keep him, as their future was set with McCarthy.
It’s those in Minnesota who should have been waking up on Monday morning sick to their stomachs because while McCarthy and Co. went 9-8 and missed the playoffs, Darnold is a Super Bowl champion.
Not bad for a guy who was not good enough for the Jets.
