Based on the recent pronouncements by Dave Gettleman and Christopher Johnson, one would think Saquon Barkley and Sam Darnold will, by their mere presence, turn the Giants and Jets into the scourges of the NFC and AFC.
And it's supposed to happen overnight, if not sooner!
Got it.
They were excited to get a couple of wonderful talents with their first-round draft picks. So utterly jacked were they that Gettleman, the Giants' general manager, pronounced his running back pick as "touched by the hand of God," and Jets owner Johnson spouted how fans 20 years distant will remember April 26 as the day the Jets moved from Loserville to the high-rent district.
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Sure. Why not? Everybody's entitled to a little post-draft euphoria.
But now it's time for everybody to shut up, take the foot off the pedal and let these two supposed saviors develop at their own pace.
At least let them get to training camp before anyone from the front office opens his mouth again. That's where the real development happens, not in the rookie and full-team minicamps where players work unencumbered by pads and heavy contact. Nor do they face the heavy media scrutiny that awaits highly touted rookies once training camp starts at the end of July.
That will be enough for them to handle, especially after Barkley makes his first fumble and Darnold throws his first pick.
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Until then, just put a sock in the high-minded pronouncements. These kids have enough pressure on them already. Darnold especially, if only because the Jets haven't had a truly great quarterback since gas cost 35 cents a gallon. That's a long time.
Yet, the temptation to make Darnold a Day 1 starter may grow too great in light of Johnson's recent sentiments. Expectations are high enough, but all could come crashing down in a storm of criticism if Darnold falls victim to the fate of Eli Manning's older brother.
The Colts threw Peyton Manning into the crucible in 1998 and had to suffer through a 3-13 year of growing pains -- he led the league with 28 interceptions -- before he turned into a future Hall of Famer.
Troy Aikman started the first four games of 1989 for the Cowboys before Jimmy Johnson sat him down for five games. He did throw for a rookie record 379 yards in his Game 10 comeback against the Cardinals, but the 0-11 record -- with nine touchdowns against 18 interceptions -- was ugly nonetheless.
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Even those who waited a bit needed time to develop. Hall of Famer John Elway had some moderate success in his 10 starts for the Broncos in 1983, but still wound up with twice as many interceptions as touchdown passes. Peyton's little brother didn't get his first start until Game 10 of 2004, and he waited until the finale against Dallas to get his first win. In the middle of the losing came that infamous 0.0 quarterback rating in Baltimore.
The point is, greatness usually doesn't happen overnight. Johnson didn't do his kid any favors with such high expectations months before the 20-year-old Darnold throws his first pass in anger. Chances are the owner's old man, the late Johnson & Johnson president Robert Wood Johnson III, never touted his latest baby oil as a world-changing product. But there was son Chris issuing a thinly veiled warning to the NFL about his latest draft prize.
The apple fell about a mile and a half from that tree.
As for Barkley, he'll learn quickly that those gaping holes the Penn State line opened for him won't be there in the pros, and those linebackers and defensive backs he bulldozed with alarming regularity in college come bigger and stronger in the NFL.
He'll have to learn the more complicated blitz pickups if he expects to fulfill expectations as a three-down back. Above all, he'll have to stay healthy.
Rather than taking their measurements for the gold jacket, the higher-ups of both franchises need to stop, breathe and let the coaches take over. When asked a direct question about either Barkley or Darnold, a simple, "He's doing fine. We'll see," will suffice.
Gettleman and Johnson may be 100 percent right. These two could transform their teams. They could be the ones people remember years from now. They could one day stand next to their busts in Canton.
But that's far in the future. Right now, they're just rookies.
It's only fair to them that the big voices regard them as such.
Follow Ernie on Twitter at @ErniePalladino
