Zach Wilson has recently been locked in to the New York Jets with their No. 2 pick since the 49ers traded up with Miami. That still left a rather big question though; what happens with Sam Darnold? Well we got our answer Monday afternoon as the Carolina Panthers pulled the trigger on the former USC quarterback.
The New York Jets will send Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for a chunk of draft picks. Those picks would be the Panthers sixth round pick in 2021 and their second and fourth round picks in 2022.
Sam Darnold was the third overall selection in the 2018 NFL Draft behind Baker Mayfield and Saquon Barkley. Many regarded Darnold as the best quarterback prospect in the draft class, and were surprised to see him not taken by the Browns. In his 27 career games at USC Darnold finished with 7,229 yards passing, 64 total touchdowns and just 22 interceptions.
Scott Fitterer said that talks for Sam Darnold got serious at the Ohio State pro day. This was three days after the 49ers completed their trade up to No. 3 which made the Panthers weary of landing the quarterback they wanted. It also doesn’t help that the Atlanta Falcons, one of Carolina’s division rivals, holds the No. 4 pick making it nearly impossible to trade up to secure a quarterback.
Now the Jets are without a starting quarterback which makes it rather obvious they intend on selecting a quarterback with the No. 2 pick. As mentioned earlier Zach Wilson is the favorite to be the Jets pick, but they could shock us all and go another route. At the end of the day it looks like the New York Jets are looking to start the Robert Saleh era with a fresh start.
