This certainly is an understatement after the team announced that it is going to be moving on from Aaron Rodgers. This team isn’t far from being good. The Jets have made some great decisions throughout the offseason already bringing Aaron Glenn to town to be the team’s head coach.
The hiring of Darren Mougey has gotten a lot of praise, as well, as the team’s new general manager. New York has a lot of young talent but the team needs to make the right choice at the quarterback position. ESPN’s Aaron Schatz made a list projecting one free agent deal for each team and linked the Jets to Sam Darnold.
“The idea seems ridiculous,” Schatz said. “Darnold going back to the Jets — the organization that nearly destroyed his career? But the difficulty with placing Darnold on a new team is that you want to match him with a franchise where the offensive coordinator will run an offense similar to what Kevin O’Connell had for him in Minnesota. That’s what allowed Darnold to finally flourish, overcome his early-career bust status and rank 14th with a 60.4 QBR in 2024.
“Although he doesn’t come off the Sean McVay/Kyle Shanahan tree, Jets coordinator Tanner Engstrand seems like a good match because of the way the Lions used under-center play-action when Engstrand was working under Ben Johnson. The Vikings had the quarterback under center 34% of the time this past season, while the Lions were at 36%. Perhaps a new coaching staff could guide Darnold and the Jets to the playoffs — just not quite in the way fans expected when the Jets took him No. 3 overall in 2018.”
Darnold had a breakout year in 2024 with 35 touchdown passes and 14 wins for the Minnesota Vikings. Spotrac currently is projecting his market value to be over $160 million over four years. His production from the 2024 season would be great for New York, but this type of move doesn’t seem likely. New York is going to have plenty of options at their disposal in the NFL Draft and in free agency with cheaper veterans. Darnold clearly has a tie to New York, but it would be a shock if he returned, but never say never.
