When the Jets took Sam Darnold with the third overall pick of the 2018 draft, they had Josh McCown on hand to serve as a veteran mentor for the rookie quarterback.
The two men have stayed close, which leaves McCown with some insight into how Darnold feels about the possibility of the Jets taking Zach Wilson or another quarterback with the second overall pick this year. The older quarterback said he’s seen no “negativity” from Darnold about the situation and suggested all could benefit from Darnold remaining on the roster.
“Can it be done? Absolutely,” McCown said, via Rich Cimini of ESPN.com. “In my mind, if you can’t get the value now for him, that’s absolutely how you go about it. I wouldn’t even call it a competition. I would just say, ‘We’re going to go with Sam as the guy and bring Zach along.’ If Sam knocks it out of the park, we’ll re-evaluate where we are a year from now. Sam would embrace it and be helpful, but he’d also go out and work hard and try to make the most of the opportunity to play this year -- and put it back on them and make them have to make a tough decision at the end of the year. I think, if that happens, really and truly, everybody wins.”
Taking a quarterback while keeping Darnold has seemed like an unlikely route for the Jets to go, but it may be the way they wind up going if a robust trade market for Darnold fails to develop before or after this year’s draft.