Sam Darnold has lofty expectations on his shoulders as the Jets quarterback virtually prepares for his second-year of tutelage under Adam Gase.
With all offseason work now being done remotely, Gase doesn’t expect the change in process to hinder the third-year quarterback’s grasp on the offense.
“I’m not worried about it with how we’re going to be doing things and how we’re going to be talking through it,” Gase said on a call with reporters on Monday. “I know that he’s kind of had the ability to do some things on his own out West.”
Obviously, studying alone in California isn’t the same as Darnold being with his teammates and coaches. Still, Gase has enough confidence in his quarterback to take the necessary steps during the quarantine period to continue developing into a franchise signal-caller.
“I feel like things are kind of moving in the right direction,” Gase said. “It’s hard for me to talk about these mythical steps that everybody’s talking about. I mean, all I know is we need to find ways to win games and put ourselves in a position where we can make the tournament. That’s what the goal is.”
Darnold’s growth hasn’t been as linear as the Jets would’ve hoped for it to be. However, that’s the risk you take with young quarterbacks. In two seasons, he’s shown flashes of brilliance and plenty of promise but hasn’t quite cemented the status that comes with being the No. 3 overall pick in your draft class. In two seasons, Darnold is 11-15 as a starter, throwing 36 touchdown passes and 28 interceptions.
With that said, Gase is comfortable with Darnold’s knowledge of the offense. In a timeline without the COVID-19 pandemic, Darnold would be jumping at the opportunity to bring new guys like Breshad Perriman, Josh Doctson, Deznel Mims and Lawrence Cager up to speed on the team’s offense.
“Sam’s trying to do the right thing as far as making sure that he knows this offense cold and he knows all the little details that he needs to do, day in and day out, and we just have to help get all these guys who are new caught up to speed as fast as possible,” Gase said. “I mean, he’s really kind of an extension of the coaching staff in that aspect, because he has more experience in this offense than most of the guys that are here, and he’s going to have to do a good job of just making sure that he’s on point.”