There was an explanation for the delay.
Joe Douglas had patience, but also wanted to see first-hand the best quarterbacks before finally deciding on his plans. That’s why the Jets waited so long to move Sam Darnold, after quarterbacks Matthew Stafford, Jared Goff and Carson Wentz were dealt with before the free agency period.
“I don’t know how each team approaches a quarterback [evaluation], but I always thought it was a golden rule: you never catch a quarterback until you’re near or next to a guy and you see him throw football, ”Douglas told Sports Illustrated. “None of the top finishers were able to go to a BYU match this year. There were no star games, no combos. Mac Jones could be seen in the Senior Bowl. But other than that, your only chance to be there and watch them throw was on a professional day. For me, that’s huge for a quarterback. “
Douglas saw all the major quarterbacks: BYU’s Zach Wilson, Justin Fields of Ohio State, Mac Jones of Alabama, and Trey Lance of North Dakota, the Jets will be able to pick with the second draft option. (Clemson’s Trevor Lawrence is expected to be selected No. 1 by the Jacksonville Jaguars).
“Almost every professional day I went there took something out of me,” Douglas said. “A guy like Trey Lance, I thought Trey Lance had a strong arm, I walked away from the state of North Dakota saying, ‘Wow, this guy has better arm talent than I thought on the tape.’ one sense, see how the ball comes out of his hand, are you there, at field level, are you watching it, the ball falls at the end of the throw, is it accelerated by the hands of the man? feeling that you wouldn’t normally see on tape. ”
Finally, the Jets traded Darnold to the Panthers for a sixth round this year and second- and fourth-round picks in 2022. They almost moved him to free agency, the general manager said, but the team wasn’t ready to trigger. .
“It was a strong offer,” Douglas said. “We told them, ‘Look, there are still a lot of boxes to check. And we just don’t feel comfortable, in case something happens to one of the first two guys, we don’t want to get caught up in a bad situation, like one of the two he fails physically and then we don’t have Sam. “So we didn’t do anything.”