GANG CUTS GILCHRIST
Real sucker punch to suck-for-Sam crowd
One Las Vegas oddsmaker delivered this sobering news to the Suck-for-Sam crowd hoping the Jets can finally land their franchise quarterback a year from now: Your team might not suck enough to draft USC wunderkind Sam Darnold … or any of the other top-end signal callers.
South Point Casino recently released the first projected 2017 win totals for every NFL team. The Vegas bookmaker believes that three teams will finish with fewer wins than Gang Green’s projected 5.5 over/under.
It figures that the two bottom feeders — the Browns (4) and 49ers (4.5) — will also be looking for franchise quarterbacks in 2018. The Bears, who shocked the world by trading up for Mitchell Trubisky last week, have a projected five-win total. The Jaguars, who could also be in search of a franchise QB, and Rams are tied with the Jets at 5.5.
Darnold could be part of a special quarterback class that also includes UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Wyoming’s Josh Allen (assuming all three of them leave school early). Some scouts believe all of those quarterbacks will be better in the NFL than any signal caller in this year’s draft.
None of this, frankly, is fair to the frustrated green-and-white clad souls, who have endured a whole lot of slop at the game’s most pivotal position for too long.
This sure-to-be painful season was supposed to have a silver lining.
The promise of landing Darnold is the only thing that gets many Jets diehards out of bed each morning. By the end of the 2017 college season, Rosen and Allen might be just as appealing to them.
Losing this season almost seems worth it if Mike Maccagnan can parlay the misery into a franchise quarterback for the ............. 11 ......... 10.5 ..... 10.5 ............. 10 ............ 10 ......... 9.5 ............ 9.5 .............. 9.5 ............ 9.5 ............ 9 ................. 9 ................. 9 ................... 9 .......... 8.5 ........... 8.5 ............ 8.5 ........... 8.5 .............. 8.5 .............. 8.5 .................... 8 .................... 8 .... 7.5 ........ 7.5 ......... 7.5 ........... 7.5 ..................... 6 ........... 5.5 ............... 5.5 ................. 5.5 .................. 5 ................ 4.5 ............... 4 next decade. Think about it: Darnold, Rosen and/or Allen could become perennial Pro Bowlers for an annual playoff contender.
Alas, what if the Jets don’t even get a crack at any of them because the quarterback-needy Browns, 49ers and Jaguars finish with worse records?
No fan base deserves such agony.
The Jets released Marcus Gilchrist less than a week after they took safeties Jamal Adams and Marcus Maye in the first two rounds of the NFL draft.
Gilchrist’s days were numbered given the influx of young talent at his position and his health. The veteran’s 2016 season was cut short after a grievous torn patellar tendon injury suffered in Week 14.
Gilchrist had five interceptions in 29 games in two seasons with the Jets.
Gang Green also waived cornerback Nick Marshall, who was suspended for the first four games of the 2017 season for a PED violation, and fullback Chris Swain.