Sam Darnold was drafted by the New York Jets with the 3rd overall pick in 2018. He’s currently 23. The New York Giants drafted Daniel Jones with the 6th overall pick in 2019. He’s also 23.
We can cite stats, but in Darnold’s case, it’s a little unfair since he started the season and missed a lot of time with mono. The offensive line was bad last year and is patchwork at best this year. Darnold doesn’t have great receivers and he has a decent backfield but without blocking, what can Le’Veon Bell do?
Some are saying this is a make or break year and based on the way the Jets have been built, GM Joe Douglas hasn’t done near enough to help his young, franchise quarterback. I made the case in a previous article that Douglas is saving all his money for a time when Darnold is no longer the #1 quarterback and now others are starting to say that.
I like Daniel Jones and besides having Saquon Barkley to help him he’s missing a lot on the offensive line and in the receiving corps. At this young age, both franchises are failing these young quarterbacks miserably.
Both teams have bad management and questionable head coaches. In a critical media market, it’s not an ideal situation for either of them.
Instead of highlighting their best stats, let’s look at the stats that could hurt their performance. Here’s how much they were sacked last season:
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/stat/qb-sacked-per-game
The Jets were ranked 29th and the Giants 20th. Darnold was getting sacked on an average of 3.2 times per game and Jones came in at 2.8. Interestingly enough, Jones was sacked 2.9 at home! That shocked me. Darnold was 2.1 at home and 4.4 on the road. That’s crazy and that did contribute to the Jets 2-6 road record. Adam Gase, I’m looking at you.
https://www.teamrankings.com/nfl/player-stat/passing-plays-intercepted
Darnold ranked ninth in the NFL with 13 interceptions. Jones was 11th with 12. Some of that falls on the quarterback, but a larger part of that falls on bad lines, bad game plans, receivers not getting open.
Jones has a fumbling problem. Maybe they can correct that. Neither QB is among the top 7 quarterbacks throwing the deep ball. Why? It’s not always the arm, it’s the game plan. Both have suffered from that and they might suffer from that again in 2020. I can’t say who’s better at this point in time. I feel bad for both of them!