Gang GM has long way to go to fill promise to Sam’s parents
Dig up Wonder Woman to lasso the truth out of Joe Douglas, who’d come clean that his prime objective to help Sam Darnold has barely taken shape.
The Jets general manager reiterated his desire Wednesday to foster an optimal environment for his young quarterback, but only those downing Kool-Aid by the pitcher would believe that the current state of affairs is close to good enough.
The Jets are in a holding pattern, a sideways franchise changing out old parts for new — but not necessarily better — ones that should rent rather than buy. Douglas doled out one-year contracts in free agency almost exclusively, while stripping Darnold of his most dynamic young weapon.
That’s the unvarnished truth.
Douglas is well-intentioned with his plan, but let’s not pretend that Gang Green has magically improved conditions for Darnold.
“That’s our focus: Doing everything we can to help Sam succeed,” Douglas said on a conference call Wednesday. “The one thing that we didn’t want…. We just didn’t want a situation where Sam was just going to have to be under fire all the time with protection issues. When I first met his parents in the first preseason game, I promised them I was going to do everything in my power to take care of Sam with protection and playmakers.”
Douglas is a principled man with a realistic bent, but you’d have to be a card-carrying apologist to conclude that the Jets expanded their foundation in the past few weeks. When you dole out 13 one-year or de facto one-year contracts in free agency, no amount of propaganda can cloud the truth: Your core-piece count didn’t grow by a substantial amount.
Truth be told, center Connor McDermott is the only addition that you can slide over to the foundation column. Everyone else is on a 16-game audition. Douglas might be looking for at least three new offensive linemen one year from now.
“I feel like we really needed to build a foundation moving forward (with) the right type of people and the right kind of depth on our team,” Douglas said. “I feel like all the best teams in the NFL have really good depth.”
Douglas added plenty of short-term depth, but how about upgraded starters?
Where are the differencemaking pass catchers to take some of the burden off Darnold? The Jets, frankly, can’t compete with the Bills or Dolphins in that regard.
Buffalo gave John Brown, Cole Beasley and Stefon Diggs to Josh Allen. The Dolphins quarterback, whoever that may be, will have DeVante Parker, Preston Williams and Mike Gesicki. Each of those division rivals is infinitely better at pass catcher than the Jets.
Douglas let Robby Anderson, an ascending player who has developed a chemistry with Darnold, walk out the door. He replaced him with another possible one-and-done guy (Breshad Perriman).
Even the biggest Gotham Green homer will admit that Darnold’s supporting cast isn’t scaring anyone.
Douglas’ synopsis of his team’s pass-catching corps is disheartening.
“We’re excited about Breshad,” the GM said. “We’re excited about Jamison (Crowder). We have the young guy that came on toward the end of the year: Braxton (Berrios) was our backup slot receiver. He was in the Top 5 in punt returns, a young playmaker that we’re excited about. We were able to acquire Vyncint Smith. Poach him from the Houston Texans practice squad. He’s going to have a real opportunity. Bringing in a guy like Josh Doctson after the season. A former first-round pick. A guy that has really good ball skills. So, I think he’s a guy that can complement what we already have.”
Douglas’ next opportunity will come in the draft when he’ll surely add more protection and playmaker(s), but his work is far from done.
He has a long way to go before fulfilling his promise to Mr. and Mrs. Darnold.