Jets GM Maccagnan ‘exceptionally happy’ with star QB Darnold
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. — Sam Darnold has been playing without any training wheels, and he’s riding just fine, according to New York Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan.
In fact, make that more than fine.
“He’s really been unflappable,” Maccagnan said Monday while on with WFAN’s Boomer & Gio. “We are exceptionally happy with him . ... They’ve thrown everything at him, in terms of the offence. He’s handled it, he’s moved on and he’s done well with it. Every day he goes out there he gets a little better.”
Maccagnan said that in his 25 years around pro football, Darnold is one of the best rookie quarterbacks he’s ever seen.
“You have to remember, he literally just turned 21,” he said. “He’s a very young person. But (we’re seeing) all the stuff we knew about him coming out of college — how people thought about him there. (It’s) his personality, his work ethic, the way he handles pressure — all those things are the intangibles that you really” want in a player.
This was the first time since the day Darnold joined training camp that Maccagnan has commented to the media about his progress, and it’s clear the rookie has made a seriously good impression early on, from his work ethic to his ability to bounce back from mistakes.
Coach Todd Bowles, who’s rarely anything but measured, again underlined Monday that there’s been no decision on who will start the Jets third pre-season game against the New York Giants — much less who will start Week 1 — but gave a good indication as to how he was leaning. Darnold got most of the reps and has received rave reviews now not only from Maccagnan, but from offensive co-ordinator Jeremy Bates.
Bates, who addressed the media for the first time since training camp began, said he was most impressed with “how easy the game is for (Darnold), both mentally and physically.”
“We haven’t scaled back offensively,” he added. “We’re giving Sam the same amount of information and the same plays as we’re giving Josh (McCown) and Teddy (Bridgewater) . ... He’s able to take the classroom knowledge and all the stuff he’s studying in the classroom and take it right to the field and execute it. We’re throwing a lot of football at him and he’s able to handle it and that’s hard to tell in college. In college, he was looking at the signs at the sidelines. You just never know.”
When asked if Darnold was ready to be the Week 1 starter, Bates didn’t bite — instead saying that all three quarterbacks have the ability to be NFL starters. But, “he’s progressing extremely fast,” Bates said.