Will New York Jets quarterback Sam Darnold have a bigger 2020 than the Buffalo Bills Josh Allen?
The AFC East may well be decided this year based on how two young quarterbacks, both first round picks in the 2018 NFL Draft, progress and continue their development. For the Buffalo Bills and the New York Jets, the continued growth of quarterbacks Josh Allen and Sam Darnold dictates the future of their respective franchises.
It also could well impact the outlook for the AFC East over the next decade.
Darnold, taken third overall in 2018 and Allen, who went four picks later, both saw growth in last season. Allen’s growth was more significant, however, as he took his team into the playoffs for just the second time since 1999. It was a good step forward for Allen, who showed solid improvement from his rookie season as he looked and played the part of a quarterback on a team that was ready to progress and enter into the playoffs.
His completion percentage and passing yards both went up he did a significant turnaround on his touchdown to interception ratio (10:12 to 20:9).
Darnold’s improvement was noticeable as well. His passing yards, completion percentage and yards per throw all went up and he as well improved his touchdown to interception ratio in 2019. Encouraging for Darnold in 2019 is the fact that he overcame three missed games due to mononucleosis and played on a team that was nowhere near playoff ready.
Pro Football Focus had a debate on which of these two quarterbacks was most ready to improve in 2020. Two of the three panelists discussing the topic went with Darnold, George Chahrouri and Sam Monson.
Chahrouri said he had to flip a coin to make the decision and ended up going with Darnold. He may have been joking about the coin flip as he came well prepared to pitch the idea that Darnold is more ready to take a significant step forward this upcoming season than his AFC East rival.
PFF George (George Chahrouri):
So, that means I'm gonna have to go with Sam Donald and here's the reason I'll go with Sam Donald…Josh Allen has a way better situation. He has better weapons, he has Stefon Diggs.” Chahrouri said. “But Sam Donald has the better fundamentals he was seventh, in terms of avoiding negatively graded throws over the course of his career. Josh Allen is on the other end, he’s seventh worse - that's one of our most stable metrics in terms of projecting quarterbacks forward. So by default. I'm going to go with Sam Darnold.”
“Yeah, I don't have a coin to use but I'm going to end up in the same place as well and going with Darnold and the reason is similar,” Monson said. “The Bills have done a fantastic job surrounding Josh Allen with an incredible situation, one of the best receiving corps in the NFL, the offensive line is decent [and] the defense is good. Darnold has had wreckage around him since he's been in New York, but this offseason, they overhauled the offensive line, they brought in receivers. So he has the chance to take a big step forward in a way I just don't think Josh Allen has.”
