Trade Talks For QB Darnold; What Should WFT Offer Jets?
ASHBURN, Va. - If you can play QB, the Washington Football Team would probably have interest. Sam Darnold - maybe - can play QB.
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Darnold, 23, is the guy the Jets "had to have'' and they surrendered multiple picks to the Indianapolis Colts to acquire via the NFL Draft.
Yeah, another bad deal for a quarterback who hasn't quite panned out. Just remember that when you hear that an NFL team should do 'whatever it takes' to get their QB. No, no they shouldn't.
Certainly, the Washington Football Team should not do "whatever it takes'' to get Darnold.
But in the Washington Football Team "reach-out'' to the Jets brass, what should the WFT do? Here's how we say the negotiations should start ...
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*Washington should try to offer one of their third-round picks and another mid-round pick.
*If that doesn't work - for right now - they should consider their 2021 second-round pick. But we say that reluctantly.
*The more thought that is put into this, the more we believe: the WFT should not part with their No. 19 overall pick for any potential quarterback trade that doesn't feature the likes of Russell Wilson or Deshaun Watson.
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Sam Darnold is not worth the No. 19 pick. Thinking otherwise smells like desperation; he's not established that he's good enough to be desperate for.
With an admittedly moribund Jets team and a terrible coaching situation, Darnold completed less than 60% of his passes last year, 6.1 yards per attempt and a nine touchdown to 11 interception ratio.
In his career, he's a 59.8% passer. That's nowhere close to being good enough in today's NFL.
Is Darnold salvageable? Probably. Is he even close to being a sure thing? Absolutely not. And that's the reason the Washington Football Team has to be extremely cautious with a full-throttle pursuit of Darnold. He hasn't earned that.
Washington needs to sort through the difference between "need'' and "needy.'' Ron Rivera, Martin Mayhew and Marty Hurney should approach these trade talks admitting to the first ... but not conceding to the second.
