This Jets offseason has centered around one person — Sam Darnold.
Even though the third-year quarterback is under contract, not part of any transactions and was not able to talk football with his coaches until Monday, every move the Jets have made has had implications for Darnold.
That is why Jets general manager Joe Douglas prioritized rebuilding the offensive line in free agency and then used his first draft choice on a tackle (Mekhi Becton) and his second draft choice on a wide receiver (Denzel Mims).
Jets coach Adam Gase has high hopes for Darnold entering Year 3 with the help he has around him now.
“I feel like he’s going to make a move in the right direction,” Gase said Monday on a conference call with reporters. “It’s hard for me to talk about these mythical steps that everybody’s talking about. All I know is we need to find ways to win games and put ourselves in position to where we can make the tournament. That’s what the goal is. I know that’s what every team in the NFL’s trying to do.”
That mission took another step on Monday when the Jets began their virtual offseason program. The players and coaches began video meetings and started to lay the groundwork for the 2020 season.
There is pressure on Darnold to make a big leap in Year 3 and pressure on Gase to bring that out of him. Darnold threw for 3,024 yards, 19 touchdowns and 13 interceptions last year. He missed three games with mono. The Jets need the yards and touchdowns to make a jump and the number of bad decisions to fall.
Gase expects improvement from Darnold now that he is entering the second season in the same offensive system.
“I know that he kind of watches last year’s stuff and it gets him fired up because he knows, ‘I can do this better. I know how this is supposed to look,’ ” Gase said. “His brain is working so much faster when you go into Year 2 with these things. You know all the little, tiny details of what the offense is about. Now, it’s about playing faster, adjusting to things that maybe we didn’t talk about, adjusting to things you’ve never seen before and being able to do those little, tiny detailed things so much quicker just because of experience and studying the film and learning from your mistakes.”
Gase said Darnold needs to “grab ahold of this offense,” something the coach feels Darnold can do despite possibly not being on the field together until August or later.
The Jets went 7-9 in Gase’s first season, including 6-2 in the second half. But his offense struggled mightily. They finished dead last in total offense and only had a few games when things really clicked.
Douglas went out and found four potential new starters on the offensive line — Becton, Connor McGovern, Greg Van Roten and George Fant. He also added two receivers in Mims and Breshad Perriman while subtracting Robby Anderson. The Jets are also hopeful a healthy Chris Herndon at tight end could improve the offense.
Still, this will come down to Darnold and how he performs. It’s always about the quarterback.
“Sam’s trying to do the right thing as far as making sure he knows this offense cold, he knows all the little details that he needs to do day in and day out,” Gase said. “He has to help all these guys that are new get caught up to speed as fast as possible. He’s really kind of an extension of the coaching staff in that aspect. He has more experience in this offense than most of the guys who are here. He’s going to have to do a good job of making sure he’s on point.”
