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We have heard this theory myriad times, but the Super Bowl match-up proves it once again.
“The NFL is a QB-driven league.”
And in this season’s Super Bowl, you have two of the NFL’s top three quarterbacks squaring off – Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and Tampa Bay’s Tom Brady.
The top three guy not in the game is Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers, who lost to Brady in the NFC Championship Game.
The moral of this story is you don’t have an elite quarterback, your chances of playing on the final Sunday of the NFL season aren’t great. Once a while a team with a pedestrian QB sneaks in, but it doesn’t happen very often.
And when it does happen sometimes, like with the Los Angeles Rams’ Jared Goff and San Francisco’s Jimmy Garoppolo, they often lose, because they can’t match the production of the elite QB on the other sideline. These kind of quarterbacks rely too much on the play-caller.
So the begs the question with the Jets – even with the QB-friendly system Mike LaFleur is bringing to the Jets, is Sam Darnold ever going to be an elite QB who can take a team to the Super Bowl?
One thing those elite guys can do, like Mahomes and Brady, is read defenses on a high level. They are also full field readers and can throw with great anticipation.
That last part is huge, and a lot of young quarterbacks don’t do that enough. NFL throwing windows are often so small, you often have to get rid of the ball when your receiver is hitting his break. Too many young quarterbacks wait to see the receiver flash wide open, and then try to throw a rocket. Darnold and Jacoby Brissett do this a lot. They have plenty of company. It’s hard to have consistent success doing this because on too many plays receivers aren’t flashing wide open, and you need to throw with anticipation in the NFL.
So this point here is simple: Unless the Jets think Darnold is going to take quantum leap under LaFleur, and QB coach Rob Calabrese (a Long Island-native), perhaps it’s time to trade him, and go with another QB who you think can become elite.
Granted, you don’t know if any of these college QB prospects will be elite in the NFL until they . . . . play in the NFL. And that includes Trevor Lawrence, who threw a lot of bubble screens in college. You don’t know if a guy can read an NFL defense, until they . . . . read an NFL defense.
Projecting how much success a college QB might have in the NFL is a 100 percent crap shoot, even for the best scout, GM or offensive coordinator.
But after three years in the league, even without having the best team around him, or perhaps the best coaching, you probably have a good idea who Darnold is as an NFL QB. He’s an athletic QB, who excels when his first read is open, or when the play breaks down and he can play street yard ball.
So maybe it’s time for the Jets to hit the reset button at the position, and perhaps pick BYU’s Zach Wilson at #2.
“I go back and watch Zach Wilson, and some guys are just effortless,” said former NFL scout Daniel Jeremiah on NFL Network. “If there is a soundtrack, it’s ‘Easy like Sunday morning.’ He’s just so effortless and smooth.”
Jets brass, Jets fans – ask yourself this question – Do you ever see Darnold getting anywhere near the level of the two quarterbacks in the this season’s Super Bowl or the guy who just missed (Rodgers)?
January 27, 2021
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