New York Jets: 3 Most ridiculous reasons not to start Sam Darnold Week 1

ARLINGTON, TX - APRIL 26: Sam Darnold of USC poses with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell after being picked #3 overall by the New York Jets during the first round of the 2018 NFL Draft at AT&T Stadium on April 26, 2018 in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Tom Pennington/Getty Images) /

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LOS ANGELES, CA – SEPTEMBER 09: Sam Darnold #14 of the USC Trojans takes a snap during the second half of a game against the Stanford Cardinal at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on September 9, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

2. The terrible Jets offensive line and comparisons to other quarterbacks

When you step back and look at things, his line at USC wasn’t great by college standards in 2017. So, that means he’s used to playing behind a bad offensive line. Does that mean they should put him behind a substandard line? No, but it also doesn’t mean he can’t handle being behind this Jets line either.

I have seen some comparisons made to the lines that David Carr was behind in Houston and Andrew Luck was behind in Indianapolis as reasons to delay the beginning of his career as well. That is — as Giants general manager put the need to draft a quarterback — hogwash.

Carr became gun-shy, and the quarterback clock became sped up when he took the hits he did in Houston, and the pounding Luck took led to an injury. Both of those situations had the same reason why they both had terrible offensive lines. Both front offices neglected the offensive line while they were manning the quarterback position for multiple years, not just one.

So, by saying that the offensive line is terrible so he shouldn’t be “thrown to the wolves” indicates that you don’t trust Mike Maccagnan and company to build the offensive line properly in the coming years. Either that, or you think Darnold is so mentally fragile that one year will do him in. If that’s the case, he doesn’t belong in the NFL in the first place, and that makes the pick terrible, which it wasn’t.

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