Jets will surely ‘suck for Sam’
CIRCLE THE date, Jets Nation, when the NFL announces the 2017 schedule in mid-April. New York Jets Cleveland Browns. Loser-take-all in the Sam Darnold Bowl.
“Suck for Sam” has a nice ring to it, and Darnold, the USC quarterback, is expected to be the overall No. 1 pick in 2018 and the next sure thing as a franchise quarterback, followed closely in a strong quarterback draft by UCLA’s Josh Rosen.
Right now, it’s Darnold who is generating the most buzz.
Look up and down, back and forth, home and away, Josh McCown or Christian Hackenberg, and it’s hard to find victories in the Jets’ 2017 list of opponents. If GM Mike Maccagnan and the soon-to-be United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom are not tanking the season — owning the Jets will become Woody Johnson’s side job — well, then, it’s just semantics. The season reeks of 3-13.
No matter the coach, the quarterback, the owner or the sabermetrician making personnel decisions, it’s hard to determine if the Browns are tanking or just being themselves.
In any event, the Jets and Browns figure to be the two worst teams in the NFL and battle it out all season for the top pick of 2018.
One warning about Darnold: USC QBs have generally been at duds in the NFL. Carson Palmer went first overall in 2004 and has had an up and down career with three teams. Mark Sanchez, after a strong start, was a bust with the Jets and is now unsigned after bouncing from Philly to Denver to Dallas. Matt Leinert was a huge disappointment and Matt Barkley is with his fourth team going into his fifth season.
The Browns could actually take themselves out of the Darnold Sweepstakes if they select a quarterback with the 12th pick in next month’s draft. Cleveland is virtual a certainty to pick Texas A&M DE Myles Garrett first overall and then could take a QB with the choice they received from the Eagles last year in the Carson Wentz trade. Of course, the Browns should have just drafted Wentz, but they came up with all kinds of analytics and determined Wentz wasn’t a top 20 quarterback. He had an impressive rookie season and by this time next year will be a top 10 quarterback.
If the Browns wind up with Mitchell Trubisky, Deshaun Watson or DeShone Kizer at No. 12, they would presumably eliminate themselves from taking Darnold next year. But they will still be very much in the running for the worst record, which would put them in position to trade to a QBneedy team for more draft picks, which is about all they seem to want to do anyway.
If the NFL has a sense of humor, they would put the Jets in Cleveland in the 14th game prior to the annual two division games to end the season. That would create the most drama for what will be just an awful game. If the schedule makers really want to be funny, they could put the Jets in Cleveland for the season opener and allow McCown to feel the love from the Dawg Pound in a triumphant return after he was 1-10 in his starts for the Browns the last two years.
It didn’t seem possible after the season Ryan Fitzpatrick just had, but the Jets have downgraded at quarterback with McCown. He will likely begin the season as the starter, and then once the Jets have their first four-game losing streak, Todd Bowles should turn the season over to Hackenberg. If last year’s second-round pick had shown anything on the practice field, he would have started a few meaningless games in December and gone into the offseason as the starter.
Unless McCown lights it up and keeps the Jets competitive through the first month, Bowles owes it to the organization to get Hackenberg on the field as early in the season as possible — even if another dreadful season likely means Bowles will be fired. By the end of the year, the Jets must know whether Maccagnan blew the pick or they have something to work with going forward. Maccagnan has risked his reputation and perhaps his job by overdrafting Hackenberg.
In addition to the Jets’ six division games against the Patriots, Dolphins and Bills, they play the AFC West, the NFC South, the Jaguars and Browns. I figure they will be 1-5 in the AFC East with a victory at home over the Bills. They could beat the Chargers at home but lose home games to the Chiefs, Falcons and Panthers. They should beat the Jags at home. They don’t figure to win in Denver or Oakland in the AFC West or in their NFC South road games against an improving Bucs team and in New Orleans, where the Saints can’t play defense, but the Jets won’t be able to keep up with Drew Brees. hat leaves the game in Cleveland as the difference between 3-13 and 4-12. That could be the difference between the first pick and the second pick, between Darnold and Rosen.
Finally, something goes right for the Jets. They lose to the Browns in their most important game in Cleveland since the OT loss in the playoffs after the 1986 season.
The Darnold Bowl. It’s the only bowl game the Jets will be invited to for quite some time. Enjoy.
T