LOS ANGELES: Speculation goes back every day about what will happen to Sam Darnold. Will he continue to play with the Jets in 2021? Will it change? Everyone wants to know.
Meanwhile, the topic of this never-ending sports and radio discussion is quietly about his off-season business at his home in Southern California.
According to closest confidants, Darnold, who has been in a Jets race for three years, has been quite a success except since he was ranked No. 3 overall in 2018, he has been managing his professional uncertainty with the same level maturity. who has handled -adversity of the field.
Jordan Palmer has been a friend of Darnold’s for a long time and is also his low season quarterback coach, the founder of the QB Summit, a widely advertised training program that has helped develop people like Patrick Mahomes, Deshaun Watson and Josh Allen.
Palmer, in an exclusive interview with The Post during a break from one of his beach training sessions this past weekend in Dana Point, California, remains highly bullish on Darnold’s career.
“I am just as skewed as I am, but I will keep it [bleeping] real here: I have more confidence in Sam at this point in his career that he will reach his potential than he did three years ago, “said Palmer.” He has been hardened by the difficulty his first three years have had and some of the challenges he has faced. with that I’ve seen him grow a ton with his way of handling it.
“It’s a new situation for him. He hadn’t been on a team that didn’t win. He has always been a very good player on a very good team. And that’s not how the first three years with the Jets have shaken.
“I think Sam is one of the most talented young quarterbacks in the league and, like all good, talented quarterbacks, he needs to have a low season and he needs to improve.”
Palmer praised how Darnold has finished the last two seasons, going 6-2 in the final eight games of 2019 after the team started 1-7 and went 2-1 last season after the 0-13 start .
“My logo is a peak, a mountain range,” Palmer said. “This is your journey. I haven’t seen any quarterback go from bottom to top – perfect, amazing, in the end you get the championship, all the money and congratulations. What the boys have to do is navigate their journey. “
Former Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez is another Darnold’s confidant, who has also been coached by Palmer and still works with him from time to time. Sanchez said his interest in the Jets remains intense “because of Sam.”
“He’s my neighbor, I love the kid and I want him to do well … and he’s ready,” Sanchez told The Post. “I’ve been literally where he is: hit his shoulder, trying to fight injuries, play, don’t play? We have some strangely similar situations: two children who grew up on the street with each other. “
Sanchez’s career arc was quite the opposite of Darnold’s so far, as Sanchez had his best early success and fought later. Sanchez’s hope is that Darnold’s career will be an inverted version of him.
“We entered the league on two very different teams,” Sanchez said. “Sam was raised because the team was not good the previous year. They signed me up a lot because they changed for me and were 9 to 7 years old before I got there. So I have to go to a team that had a lot of talent and a great offensive line. “
Sanchez said he constantly “offers some of my advice” to Darnold, reminding him, “Dude, I’m here for you.”
Sanchez, like Palmer, is convinced that Darnold’s best football is ahead of him, but he believes the best thing is to change the stage. Sánchez has lived in a world of the Jets where the perceptions of the fans are consolidated and cannot be survived.
Sanchez, however, believes Darnold wants to continue with the Jets, start his new start with the new coaching regime, head coach Robert Saleh and offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur.
Palmer is torn by this issue.
“Part of me wants Sam to finish what he started and do well, and part of me would love to see it change scenery, because I’ve seen it work really well for others,” Palmer said. “This league is a league at the right time and at the right time and a league at the wrong place and at the wrong time. The right man in the right situation has a chance to be at the end of the day.
“With Sam, it hasn’t happened yet and it will be. And honestly, I can say that this year could be the right-right place with the Jets. Or it could be somewhere else. “