Building A Jets Core: Sam Darnold

We have the 12th core member of the New York Jets, as voted by all of you. And the winner is: Sam Darnold, Quarterback! The Jets’ 1st round pick in the 2018 NFL draft, Darnold has been the Jets’ starting quarterback the last three years. It has not gone well. Statistically Darnold has been one of the worst starting quarterbacks in the NFL each of his three years in the league. Last year, his third in the NFL, Darnold hit rock bottom, producing one of the worst third year seasons for a starting quarterback in the post-merger history of the NFL. There are extenuating circumstances, and some still believe Darnold will be a top quarterback in time, but it’s fair to say the 2021 season is crucial for Darnold’s future with the Jets. There is no guarantee the Jets don’t trade for a more established quarterback, or sign one in free agency, or draft a quarterback in the first round. If Darnold survives all those contingencies and is still the Jets’ starting quarterback in 2021, he will have to produce at a much higher level in 2021 for the Jets to even consider bringing him back in 2022 and beyond.

With Sam Darnold taking the 12th spot, our crowd sourced Jets Core 2022 looks like this:

1. Mekhi Becton
2. Quinnen Williams
3. Denzel Mims
4. Marcus Maye
5. Bryce Hall
6. Ashtyn Davis
7. Folorunso Fatukasi
8. John Franklin-Myers
9. C.J. Mosley
10. Braden Mann
11. Jamison Crowder
12. Sam Darnold
13. ?

By 2022 most of the new regime’s reworking of the current roster will have taken place and a core group of Jets who will form the backbone of the new Jets regime will emerge. Your job, should you choose to accept it, is to think alongside the Jets’ new staff and vote for who you think are the most likely players to form that core and still be here on opening day of the 2022 season. Nobody knows for sure how things will play out, and evaluating the chances of some of the younger players who have barely scratched the surface yet is tricky, but we know who the coaching staff is and what type of payers might fit their system, so let’s give this a shot. Let’s crowd source a Jets Core 2022.

Through mid-February I’ll be putting up a daily poll asking GGN to vote on the most likely current Jets players to still be with the team in 2022. I’ll include some current Jets that are not under contract for the 2021 season and may leave in free agency this year, but I will not include any player in college, in the 2021 NFL draft, currently under contract with another team, or any free agent who wasn’t with the Jets at the end of 2020. The idea here is to build a list of the current Jets players you think will most likely make up a core group the team will build around to begin to construct a playoff contender.

In the event I have made an egregious omission and a name you think should be on the poll is not there you can write in candidates in the comments section. If a player gets support in the comments section I’ll add him to the next day’s poll.

We all have different views on various Jets players. What we’re looking for here is the community’s collective view of the players who might help lead the Jets out of the wilderness in the coming years. Your views may or may not coincide with the community’s, and either way that’s OK.

So let’s get to it. Today we vote for the number 13 Jets core player. Who will the next spot go to? Vote early, vote often, and let’s hear who you think are the players that will be the Jets leaders of the future.