The New York Jets will be operating without rookie quarterback Sam Darnold due to a serious foot sprain. Boy Green explains why that injury is, in fact, a blessing in disguise for all parties involved.
It doesn’t matter what any one New York Jets employee might say: this season is 100 percent about Sam Darnold and his development. The rouse that this season was about winning remains false.
This isn’t to suggest that the team was tanking in any which way either. It simply means that with the variety of issues that already existed on the team extrapolated by having a rookie quarterback proved unlikely to result in a playoff berth.
After nine weeks of play, this exact notion has been confirmed with the team’s 3-6 record. The offensive line has played better than expected for the majority of the season, but recently had collapsed like a used lawn chair and Sam Darnold was the unfortunate casualty in all of this.
Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News was first on the story that Darnold had a “significant foot sprain” and would miss the game vs. the Buffalo Bills this week and “the team isn’t optimistic about his chances to play the New England Patriots after the bye week.”
Todd Bowles confirmed the news after practice on Wednesday.
Upon first glance, this is terrible news. If this season is all about Darnold’s development and he’s not playing for a few weeks, then the rest of the season is lost. Well, not exactly …
This actually could be a blessing in disguise for Sam Darnold and the Jets.
So let’s be honest with ourselves for a minute … when the Jets were swept this past week by the hapless Miami Dolphins led by Brock Osweiler, head coach Todd Bowles’ fate was sealed.
With the team sitting at 3-6, there’s no tangible hope of this team turning it around with such a difficult second half of their schedule on the horizon, which means winning is no longer paramount.
The team would be best served “tanking,” for lack of a better word for the best draft pick possible to continue to surround Sam Darnold with talent around him on offense.
Which brings us to our next point: no one wants to sit Darnold. He needs the experience and even if he’s getting roughed up a little, that should benefit him down the line. But if he’s ruled out due to injury and is forced to sit a few weeks, it may not be such a bad thing.
Consider this: the talent at the skill positions leaves much to be desired. Bilal Powell is out for the season, Quincy Enunwa and Robby Anderson have both been banged up, and there are no other noteworthy players that deserve additional recognition. How much will Darnold learn getting lit up like a Christmas tree with no talent around him?
Perhaps sitting and seeing the field from a different perspective will benefit him. While certainly, he’s in a slump right now, I wouldn’t have benched him purposely because I think it’s good for a young quarterback to work his way through it. But with the injury, it’s a good excuse to sit him and get him ready for the real year of contention, 2019.
The Jets will have around $100 million in cap space, the aforementioned draft selections, and a more seasoned Darnold. Now that could be the antidote for a long playoff drought for the Jets.
We discussed all the latest with Sam Darnold and his injury in the latest episode of The Jets Zone, you can check out the full episode below.
#BUFvsNYJ full game preview: @BoyGreen25 spoke w/ @GreyBeardHahn of @BuffaLowDown/@TwoBillsInAPod to discuss who will be starting at QB for #GoBills + why Todd Bowles is done as HC of #Jets after latest debacle surrounding Sam Darnold. #BillsMafia #JetUp https://t.co/sBOrsP185O
— The Jets Zone (@TheJets_Zone) November 7, 2018
