Recent reports pin the Jets as one of a select few teams that superstar Deshaun Watson would agree to be traded to, but one former Jet standout would be hesitant to pull the trigger on a potential blockbuster deal.
Former Jets center Nick Mangold joined Moose & Maggie on Tuesday and the lifelong Jet expressed some hesitation in New York pushing all of its chips in to acquire Watson, should the Texans decide to trade him.
“The fans are starving for quality football from the New York Jets, so that would be huge,” Mangold said. “My concern is that Houston seems to be really sticking to their guns, and they’re going to be asking for a full load of draft picks and probably everything else. For a team that I think has a lot of issues, that might not be the best course of action”
The Jets have the No. 2 pick in this year’s NFL Draft, and with the Rams recently sending two first-round picks to the Lions for quarterback Matthew Stafford, the asking price for Watson would be astronomical. Of course, the Jets have been searching for a franchise quarterback for years, and Watson would immediately fill that void, but Mangold is concerned that what would be left on the Jets roster wouldn’t be enough to justify a mammoth trade.
“It would be awesome to have a guy like Deshaun,” Mangold said. “He’s 25 years old and in his prime, he’s playing lights out and if not a top-five, definitely a top-10 quarterback in the league. It would be fantastic, I’m just concerned we have so many holes that even if we were able to trade for him, we wouldn’t be able to put the supporting cast around him to let him live up to the expectations that he’s already shown he can do.”
An alternative for the Jets outside of trading for Watson or selecting a quarterback second overall is to ride it out with Sam Darnold for another season. Darnold hasn’t lived up to his draft hype since arriving in New York, but many believe he hasn’t been given a fair chance given the few weapons around him and the turmoil that has surrounded the Jets in recent years. Mangold, who spent his entire 11-year career with Gang Green, is among that camp who believes the Jets may still be unsure of what exactly they have in the former third overall pick.
“Sam’s rookie year, he was a rookie and you kind of wash off rookie years for quarterbacks,” Mangold said. “His second year he had mono, which is just laughable that we have to mention that, but he had a strong ending to that season. This year, he had to deal with a depleted roster along with everything COVID related. I just don’t know if we’ve had a true evaluation of what Sam can be.”
Darnold is still just 23 years old and has yet to play a full 16-game slate, let alone with a consistent coaching staff, and Mangold expressed concern that should the Jets part ways and include Darnold in a trade for Watson or another quarterback, they could wind up wishing they gave the USC product a closer look.
“I’d hate for something to happen where he gets sent off similar to Drew Brees in San Diego,” Mangold said. “Drew Brees goes off to New Orleans, wins a Super Bowl and becomes one of the greatest quarterbacks ever, and San Diego is sitting there like ‘Hey, what happened?’”
As for Darnold himself, Mangold has been impressed with how he has handled the uncertainty surrounding his future with the Jets, especially in the New York market, which Mangold navigated for over a decade.
“In this market, one misquote and you could tank the whole thing,” Mangold said. “You could say ‘I don’t have enough weapons’ or ‘I don’t have enough people protecting me,’ and that would explode into a huge snowball. The fact that he has been able to stay level-headed with as bad as its been for at least the past year, that shows really positive signs. Will that translate onto the football field? We’ll see. But at least the mindset and mentality that he has is definitely a positive.”
Listen to Mangold’s full interview with Moose & Maggie below!
Follow WFAN's midday team on Twitter: @MandMWFAN, @MarcMalusis, and @MaggieGray
Follow WFAN on Social Media
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Twitch