Sam Darnold's Return is Uncertain, But Decision Will Include Jets Management, Ownership
Sam Darnold’s return as starting quarterback of the New York Jets remains week-to-week following a shoulder injury suffered in Week 4.
Sidelined with an AC joint sprain, Darnold watched on the sidelines as veteran quarterback Joe Flacco was the Jets starter for this past Sunday’s loss to the Arizona Cardinals. And while the offense struggled, Flacco held his own despite it being his first start since Week 8 of last season.
Darnold was not place on Injured Reserve for the sprain. Last week, Jets head coach Adam Gase wouldn’t provide a timetable for the return of Darnold. He also wouldn’t provide what degree the sprain was, leaving a cloud of mystery about the return of his franchise quarterback and the overall severity of the injury.
“It’s really just the healing process that he’s going through right now and kind of how he would feel going out to practice and throwing and how far he can throw and kind of really how that would look,” Gase said on Monday in a video conference call.
“I know he’s trying to, they’re kind of trying to proceed with that just to kind of determine where he’s at with all that, that’s why the next few days will be critical for that, in the aspect of where we’re at on Wednesday. And I mean, I think it’d be really hard to convince him, ‘Hey, you know, let’s take this amount of time.’ I think we just got to keep going week to week and just seeing how he feels. Sam does do a good job of really wiring in on his rehab and putting in a lot of work and he’s a pretty quick healer.”
In spelling Darnold in Week 5, Flacco was 18-of-33 for 195 yards with a touchdown. He was solid even if the Jets offense struggled to sustain drives and consistently get points.
As for Darnold, another solid performance from Flacco in Week 6 let alone a Jets win could spell an interesting conversation for Jets management about who to start moving forward. Were Flacco to start and perform well, it’d be a rough outlook for Darnold to return as the starter anytime soon.
The offense has struggled under both quarterbacks but Flacco seemed poised and efficient against the Cardinals. He was plagued by numerous drops from his offensive weapons.
The process for Darnold to return to the field is more than simply a discussion between Gase, the medical staff and the play. General manager Joe Douglas is involved, which seems somewhat obvious.
But Gase said that Jets owner Christopher Johnson and team president Hymie Elhai will all be in on the decision.
“It’s really, it’s myself, Joe, Christopher Hymie Elhai - we all kind of sit down and talk through that, the doctors, Sam, it’s kind of like a group discussion of where we’re at, kind of we use the information that’s given to us and then make a determination off of that. I would love to always see how he feels when we get out of the practice and just kind of see where he’s at,” Gase said.
“And whenever that time, whenever we’re given the green light for that, I’d love him to be able to practice before we go into a game just because the way a lot of the teams that we play, we’re seeing pressures and we’re seeing different looks and stuff and I’d love for him to get reps, but we’ll kind of see, that’s why I keep saying it’s week-to-week. If he gets to a point where he feels good and he feels good enough and a majority of its walkthroughs, I mean I’m not ruling anything out right now.”
