John Hardcastle (Maxwell Football Club)
Ron Jaworski on New York Jets franchise quarterback: I'm a big Sam Darnold fan
After a rough start to his second season in the NFL, Sam Darnold showed development and marked improvement over the final eight games of the season. Former NFL quarterback Ron Jaworski was impressed with Darnold’s rookie season and sees a jump from the New York Jets quarterback heading into his thrid season in 2020.
Conventional wisdom holds that a quarterback has a massive growth spurt following his second season in the NFL. To his credit, Darnold showed signs of development after a rough start to last season. He cut back on turnovers, improved his reading of defenses and showed greater patience in the pocket as the Jets finished with six wins in their final eight games.
That 7-9 record gives hope for the Jets to continue their rebuild this upcoming season. For Jaworski, there is plenty of promise and growth still left for Darnold.
“I actually like the progress Sam Darnold made in his first year. I thought when he made mistakes, he didn't replicate those mistakes, he learned from them,” told SportsIllsutrated.com.
“Last year was a very difficult year to get a barometer on him because of the injuries, and when a quarterback has been hurt and they miss practice time, they miss rep time, it's hard to get a real barometer. I'm a big Darnold fan, I think he's got big upside.”
Darnold’s growth resulted in improvements over his rookie season. He bettered his passing yards, touchdown to interception ratio as well as yards per passing attempt. After a rough start to the season, including a diagnosis of mononucleosis that caused him to miss three games following Week 1, the Jets and Darnold had significant struggles. The 1-7, including a loss to the then winless Miami Dolphins in Week 9, was dispiriting for a team that seemed poised to turn the corner in preseason.
To his credit, Darnold rebounded well, showing growth on the field in reading defenses and resilience off the field after such a terrible start.
Jaworski spoke this past Friday at the Tropicana Atlantic City where he was on hand for a media event hosted by the Maxwell Football Club. The former Philadelphia Eagles quarterback and ESPN analyst was the recipient last year from the Maxwell Football Club of the Tropicana Legends Award. The honor noted his contribution to the game of football that includes his playing career, mentorship of youth athletes and role in Arena Football and spreading the game to China.
This year, the club honored Pro Football Hall of Fame offensive lineman Anthony Munoz with the Legends Award.
