LOS ANGELES – Speculation revolves every day about what will happen to Sam Darnold. Will he still be playing with the Jets in 2021? Will it be negotiated? Everyone wants to know.
Meanwhile, the subject of that endless discussion on sports radio turns silently about his off-season business at his home in Southern California.
According to close confidants, Darnold, who has been in a Jets career for three years that has been anything but a success since he was chosen for 3rd overall in 2018, has dealt with the uncertainty of his career with the same balanced maturity. dealt with in the field.
Jordan Palmer is a longtime friend of Darnold and also his off-season quarterback coach, the founder of QB Summit, a widely advertised training program that helped develop names like Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen.
Palmer, in an exclusive interview with The Post during a break from one of his beach workouts last weekend in Dana Point, California, remains very optimistic about Darnold’s career.
“I am as biased as possible, but I will keep you [bleeping] real here: I have more confidence in Sam at this point in his career that he will reach his potential than I did three years ago, ” Palmer said. “He is hardened by how difficult his first three years were and some of the challenges he had. I saw him grow a lot with the way he handled it.
“These are new situations for him. He was not on a team that was not winning. He has always been a very good player on a very good team. And that was not how the first three years with the Jets were shaken.
“I believe Sam is one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the league and, like all good and talented quarterbacks, he has to have a great offseason and improve. ”
Palmer praised how Darnold ended the past two seasons, going 6-2 in the last eight games of 2019 after the team started 1-7 and going 2-1 last season after the 0-13 start.
“My logo is a ridge, a mountain range, ” said Palmer. “This is your journey. I didn’t see a quarterback that goes from the bottom up – perfect, incredible, in the end you win the championship and all the money and congratulations. What the guys need to do is navigate their journey. ”
Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is another close confidant to Darnold, who was also trained by Palmer and still works with him occasionally. Sanchez said his interest in the Jets remains strong “because of Sam”.
“He’s my neighbor, I love the boy and I want him to get along … and he’s in the middle of it, ” Sanchez told the Post. “I was literally where he is – injured shoulder, trying to fight injuries, he’s playing, isn’t he? We kind of have some scarily similar situations – two kids who grew up on the same street with each other. ”
Sanchez’s career arc was exactly the opposite of Darnold’s so far, as Sanchez had his best success at the beginning and fought later. Sanchez’s hope is that Darnold’s career will be an inverted version of his.
“We joined the league for two very different teams, ” said Sanchez. “Sam was drafted because the team was not good the year before. I was drafted because they traded for me and were 9-7 the year before I got there. So, I had to go to a team that had a lot of talent and a great offensive line. ”
Sanchez said he is constantly “offering some of my advice” to Darnold, reminding him: “Man, I am here to help you”.
Sanchez, like Palmer, is convinced that Darnold’s best football is ahead of him, but believes that this could come with a change of scenery. Sanchez lived in the world of Jets, where the perceptions of fans are consolidated and cannot be overcome.
Sanchez, however, believes that Darnold wants to continue with the Jets, start again with the new coach regime, coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
Palmer is divided on this issue.
“Part of me wants Sam to finish what he started and get it right, and part of me would love to see him change the scene, because I saw it work so well for others,” said Palmer. “This league is a league in the right place at the right time and a league in the wrong place at the wrong time. The right guy in the right situation has a chance to be in the mix at the end.
“With Sam, it just hasn’t happened yet, and it will happen. And I can honestly say that the right time at the right place could be this year with the Jets. Or it could be somewhere else. ”