Every move the Jets made in the NFL Draft, and offseason in general, appears to have been designed to make Sam Darnold better.
They have added pieces to the offensive line, they've brought in a couple new receivers, all that is left is for Darnold to make the most of what surrounds him as he enters his third season in the NFL.
"I feel like things are going in the right direction," head coach Adam Gase told reporters on a conference call on Monday. "It's hard for me to talk about these mythical steps that everybody's talking about. All I know is we need to find a way to win games and put ourselves in position to where we can make the tournament. That's what the goal is."
Through two seasons, Darnold is 11-15 with 36 touchdowns, 28 interceptions and a 59.9 completion percentage. He continued to show glimpses of his potential last year — after his bout with mono caused him to miss three games — but also still had lapses that the Jets need him to overcome, particularly turning the ball over.
But Gase is encouraged by what he sees in Darnold, who led the Jets to a 6-2 record over the final eight games of the 2019 season, throwing 13 TDs to four interceptions. The Jets head coach believes the second year under his system will start to become second nature for Darnold.
"Really it's 'Grab a hold of this offense,'" Gase said. "I know that he watches last year's stuff and it gets him fired up because he knows 'I know I can do this better. I know how this is supposed to look.' His brain is working so much faster when you go into Year 2 of these things because you know all the little tiny details of what the offense is about."
