Mike Maccagnan sat at the Water Grill in Santa Monica, California, watching the menu as a young waiter approached.
“Mr. Maccagnan, I’m a fan of the Jets and I just wanted to thank you, “said the waiter.
It was March 21, 2018 and Maccagnan, then general manager of the Jets, had changed three second-round picks to the Colts four days earlier to move from No. 6 to No. 3 in the draft to get a quarterback. The waiter expressed the optimism many fans felt with this move.
That afternoon, Maccagnan and several other Jets officials had watched Sam Darnold throw passes in the rain on the USC campus as part of his professional day. They walked away believing Darnold would be No. 1 overall in the Browns.
Instead, he fell into the hands of No. 3 and his selection created more hope around the Jets than he had felt in years. Like that young California waiter, Jets fans everywhere believed the team had found its savior and had better days ahead.
On Monday, that hope died when the Jets sent Darnold to the Panthers for three recruits.
What happened?
Darnold’s disappearance is not as easy as many would like you to believe. It’s a litter of factors that add up to all the other Jets fouls in a position that has greatly affected the organization for nearly 50 years.
The Jets saw Darnold as a game changer from day one. Owner Christopher Johnson predicted that his draft pick would look back in 20 years as the Jets turned out excellent. That summer he won a competition against veterans Josh McCown and Teddy Bridgewater, which clearly resulted in him winning.
His first game started terribly with a pick-six on his first pass, but he recovered to throw two touchdowns and helped the Jets beat the Lions 48-17 in Detroit on “Monday Night Football.” Near the end of the game, Jets fans gathered behind the Jets bench at Ford Field and sang, “JETS, Jets, Jets, Jets.”
It looked like the Jets and their quarterback had arrived.
This is the last time the Jets won a game in September and the last time Darnold’s record would exceed 0.500.
It soon became apparent that Darnold’s foundations were built on quicksand. Coach Todd Bowles and his staff would be fired at the end of the season, replaced by Adam Gase, who was hired in large part for how he could help Darnold. Maccagnan was fired that spring and now the GM and the coach who drafted him had disappeared.
Darnold fought in Gase’s complicated offense. He was slow to prosecute, struggled to read the defense and sometimes seemed overwhelmed. Internally, people asked Gase to reduce Darnold’s burden and simplify things. It worked for a brief period at the end of the 2019 season, but in 2020 it was a disaster with Darnold not throwing 300 yards in a game.
Beyond training, the Jets were unable to surround Darnold with a strong offensive line or players with good skill. They signed Le’Veon Bell in 2019 and that didn’t work. They hired Denzel Mims last year and he struggled with injuries. They let Robby Anderson walk in free agency, a huge miscalculation by GM Joe Douglas. There were games in which Darnold’s best receivers would be a challenge to identify even for the most ardent fans.
They tried to break an offensive line with no-budget agent signings. Left-back Mekhi Becton, a first-round pick, was the only significant investment made on the line. In all, Darnold played with 56 different teammates on offense, none of them Pro Bowler.
Darnold was not blameless. It’s possible that everyone was wrong about Darnold’s assessment outside of college. It’s been a billing team (46 in total) that often tries to do too much. It took until December 2020 to get three consecutive games unbilled. In the end, it seemed like a better game plan to ask Darnold to do less than lead the team. He didn’t see the field well and often made interceptions that scratched his head and he couldn’t see open receivers.
Durability was also an issue. He didn’t play a full season or once in the Jets. A foot injury cost him three games as a rookie, a bout with mononucleosis left him out for three in 2019 and a shoulder injury forced him to lose four games last season. The Jets went 0-10 in those games, another sign of organizational failure.
In the end, it’s hard not to think about the day he was recruited and that magical night in Detroit and think about the hope that was there then. That’s what itches now. That hope may still come true, but not here, not with the Jets.