Darnold may start exhibition vs. Washington
Long after the final joint practice between the New York Jets and Washington wrapped up, the quarterbacks kept chatting.
Apart from the on-field workouts, those moments gave Alex Smith a chance to get to know Jets rookie Sam Darnold a little bit. But rather than dole out advice from one high draft pick to another after 12 NFL seasons, Washington’s veteran starter wants Darnold to chart his own path as a rookie.
“All these situations are different,” Smith said. “He’s got some good guys in his QB room to lean on that have played a lot of ball, so he certainly didn’t need to hear me tell him anything. I think my rookie year’s probably more of an example of what not to do as opposed to what to do.”
Before he can potentially earn the Jets’ starting job, Darnold could get the nod against Smith in the teams’ next preseason game Thursday night. Coach Todd Bowles would say only, “All of our quarterbacks need to be ready to play,” but Darnold took the majority of first-team snaps this week and impressed Washington.
Cornerback Josh Norman compared Darnold’s decision-making skills to Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz and Dallas’ Dak Prescott and found out firsthand that Darnold doesn’t throw like a rookie.
“This little kid is not mistakes and he’s really accurate,” Norman said. “It’s kind of like, dang. You get rookies in here, you’re trying to like mess with them and bait them a little bit into thinking that he was going to throw a route that you know you could make a play on, and he’s not having it. And it’s
so crazy to see that at an early age.”
Fully aware of his early age, Darnold wants to be faster at calling plays and breaking the huddle. Bowles wants to see the USC product catch up on the playbook and knows the best experience comes from game action.
“He studies his playbook and he goes out and tries to execute on the field and he tries to learn, which is great,” Bowles said. “You can’t see growth until years pass by, to a degree. I’m not going to measure him dayby-day from a growth standpoint in three weeks.”
Smith doesn’t feel qualified to judge Darnold’s game cover to cover but liked what he saw at workouts this week.
“Just from afar, I thought he looked good,” Smith said. “He has a great skillset, can really throw it. He moves around well. I think he has good eyes.”
JAGUARS’ RAMSEY SPEAKS MIND ON QBS >> Jalen Ramsey is making headlines from his couch.
Three days after being suspended for screaming obscenities at reporters, the Jacksonville Jaguars All-Pro cornerback is criticizing several NFL quarterbacks and praising a few.
In an interview with GQ magazine , Ramsey called Buffalo Bills rookie Josh Allen “trash” and said Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan was “overrated” and a product of Kyle Shanahan’s offensive system.
Baltimore’s Joe Flacco, Indianapolis’ Andrew Luck and Eli Manning of the New York Giants also got lessthan-stellar reviews. Ramsey called Pittsburgh’s Ben Roethlisberger “decent at best.”
The interview is part of an interesting week for Ramsey, who was suspended for the week after he screamed at media members who were videotaping a post-practice altercation between defensive ends Dante Fowler and Yannick Ngakoue.
Ramsey also predicted that Houston’s Deshaun Watson and Philadelphia’s Carson Wentz would be NFL MVPs down the road. He said Los Angeles Rams quarterback Jared Goff was “average to above average” and called Kirk Cousins “a winner.”
Ramsey weighed in on two dozen quarterbacks in all. The harshest comments were directed toward Ryan and Allen, the seventh overall draft pick from Wyoming. Buffalo and Jacksonville play in late November.
“I think Allen is trash,” Ramsey said. “I don’t care what nobody say. He’s trash. And it’s gonna show too. That’s a stupid draft pick to me. We play them this year ... I hope he’s their starting quarterback.”
Ramsey said Ryan’s MVP season in 2016 was due to Shanahan, who was the Falcons’ offensive coordinator at the time and is now the San Francisco’s head coach.
“I think Matt Ryan’s overrated,” Ramsey said. “You can’t tell me you win MVP two years ago, and then last year, you a complete bust, and you still got Julio Jones? There’s no way that should ever happen. I don’t care. You know what that tells me? That tells me Shanahan left, went to San Francisco, got (Jimmy) Garoppolo, made Garoppolo this big thing. And now Garoppolo is a big name and now (Ryan) has this bad year?
“All right, well, was it really you, or was it your coach? He was doing what was asked of him and it was making him look really, really good.” SEAHAWKS PENNY HAS SURGERY ON BROKEN FINGER >> Seattle Seahawks first-round pick Rashaad Penny had surgery to repair a broken finger.
Head coach Pete Carroll said the surgery went well and the running back isn’t expected to miss more than a couple of weeks.
“He can already move it and it’s not going to be in a cast or any of that kind of stuff, so he’s in pretty good shape,” he said. “We got a great report on it. He’s not going to be out very long at all.” AROUND THE LEAGUE >> Prosecutors in Atlanta are dismissing a rape case against Denver defensive end Adam Gotsis that stemmed from an alleged assault more than five years ago while he was at Georgia Tech.