NOW OR NEVER
Chance to get franchise QB finally arrives for Jets, but who will it be?
The Jets’ first-round pick on Thursday night has been discussed, dissected and debated for more than a year. Finally, the NFL draft is here. Around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, the answer to the question we have all been asking for months will be answered: Which quarterback will the Jets select as their new face of the franchise?
USC’s Sam Darnold, Wyoming’s Josh Allen, UCLA’s Josh Rosen and Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield have all been linked to the Jets in various ways at various times. Only Jets general manager Mike Maccagnan knows which way he is leaning — and he is not telling.
“You just want to get it right,” Maccagnan said this week. Yes, you do, Mike. If Maccagnan blows this pick, his time as Jets general manager won’t last much longer. The quarterback the Jets take will be the latest to try to become the Jets’ franchise quarterback. Since Joe Namath departed after 1976, the Jets have started 30 different men at quarterback. Some showed promise and then flopped. But no one has been that franchise stabilizer every NFL team searches for.
For the Jets, the talk about the 2018 draft began before the 2017 draft. Once Maccagnan began cutting veteran players, it became clear the Jets were making 2017 all about clearing the deck for 2018.
The roster moves led to talk of tanking and of “Suck for Sam” when Darnold was viewed as the consensus No. 1 player. The Jets went 5-11 and that was viewed as a failure by some fans, who wanted the No. 1 pick. Instead, the Jets played their way into the No. 6 pick. Then, on March 17, Maccagnan made his move, trading away three second-round picks over the next two years to the Colts to move up to No. 3. Now, who are the Jets taking? From conversations with people both inside and outside the Jets organization, here is what people believe will happen: If Darnold is on the board at 3, many people believe the Jets will take him. That scenario seemed unlikely just a few weeks ago. After his Pro Day last month, the consensus was the Browns would take him with the first pick. But the Browns seem to have cooled on him in recent weeks. A report came out Wednesday from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer that the Browns will take either Allen or Mayfield with the first pick.
If the Browns do not draft Darnold, an interesting drama could develop locally. If the Giants are set on taking running back Saquon Barkley or defensive end Bradley Chubb, like most around the league are convinced they are, they could shop the No. 2 pick. That could involve a call to the Jets and an offer to swap the two and three picks, with the Jets sending them additional draft compensation to move up and get their guy. The Giants could push the Jets toward this with the threat, whether real or perceived, of another quarterback-needy team leapfrogging them to No. 2 to take Darnold. Last year, the Bears gave the 49ers a third-rounder, a fourth-rounder and a third-rounder in this year’s draft to move up from three to two.
That price may be too much for the Jets and they may be content to stay at No. 3 and choose between the other quarterbacks available. There are people inside the Jets organization who love Mayf ield and t here are others who love Rosen. If Darnold is off the board, the Jets are believed to be choosing between those two. Allen seems to be t he only unlikely pick among t he big four right now.
The Jets’ draft drama is about to be over after so much talk. Then, we can start talking about the drama concerning when the rookie quarterback should start.