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When the Jets caught Sam Darnold with the third overall pick of the 2018 draft, they had Josh McCown on hand to serve as a veteran mentor to the new quarterback.
The two men remained close, which leaves McCown with a few hints about how Darnold feels about the possibility of the Jets catching Zach Wilson or another quarterback with the second overall choice this year. The older quarterback said he did not see Darnold’s “negativity” about the situation and suggested that everyone could benefit from Darnold’s stay in the squad.
“Can this be done? Certainly,” McCown said, via ESPN.com’s Rich Cimini. “In my mind, if you can’t get the value right now for him, that’s absolutely how you do it. I wouldn’t even call it I would just say, ‘Let’s go with Sam as the guy and bring Zach along.’ If Sam defeats him, we’ll reevaluate where we’re going to be in a year. Sam would accept and be helpful, but he’d also work hard and try to make the most of the opportunity to play this year – and put him back in them and make them take a difficult decision at the end of the year. I think that if that happens, really, everyone wins.
Catching a defender while keeping Darnold seems an unlikely path for the Jets, but it may be the path they’ll end up in if a robust commercial market for Darnold doesn’t develop before or after this year’s draft.