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Jets' Updated Draft Picks, Depth Chart After Sam Darnold Trade to Panthers
April 5, 2021
The Sam Darnold era in New York is over.
On Monday, the New York Jets traded the quarterback to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for three future draft picks.
While the team will now almost certainly select a quarterback in the NFL draft later this month, here's a look at New York's depth chart as it currently stands:
QB: James Morgan, Mike White
RB: Lamical Perine, Ty Johnson, Tevin Coleman, Josh Adams
WR1: Corey Davis
WR2: Jamison Crowder
WR3: Denzel Mims, Braxton Berrios, Keelan Cole
TE: Chris Herndon, Ryan Griffin, Tyler Kroft
LT: Mekhi Becton, Chuma Edoga
LG: Alex Lewis, Cameron Clark
C: Connor McGovern, Jimmy Murray
RG: Greg Van Roten, Dan Feeney, Conor McDermott
RT: George Fant, Chuma Edoga
Depth chart info provided by Ourlads and Over the Cap.
The team also inherits another draft pick for 2021, giving them the following selections:
Round 1: No. 2, No. 23
Round 2: No. 34
Round 3: No. 66, No. 86
Round 4: No. 107
Round 5: No. 146, No. 154
Round 6: No. 186, No. 226
New York has 21 picks in the next two drafts, with seven in the first two rounds, per Mike Garafolo of NFL Network.
Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reported that the Panthers will utilize Darnold's fifth-year option, which gives him a 2022 salary of $18.9 million. After an unimpressive start to his career, Darnold will head to a Panthers system that already has a quarterback that didn't quite live up to expectations in 2020: Teddy Bridgewater.
As for the Jets, they'll have plenty of options to select Darnold's successor in the draft. That's going with the assumption that Clemson star Trevor Lawrence goes at No. 1 to the Jacksonville Jaguars, which head coach Urban Meyer has been open about,
Taking a quarterback would make the Jets the first team since 1967 to select two quarterbacks within the top three overall picks in a four-year span, according to ESPN's Evan Kaplan (h/t ESPN's Adam Schefter).
Among the top options are Ohio State's Justin Fields, North Dakota State's Trey Lance, BYU's Zach Wilson, who are ranked in the top 10 in the latest draft big board from Bleacher Report's NFL Scouting Department.
While B/R's Nate Tice rated Lawrence as having the best arm strength and being the most NFL-ready of the top quarterbacks, he gave Fields the nod for best mobility. The Georgia native threw for 2020 with 2,100 yards and 22 touchdowns, a year after tallying 3,273 yards and 41 touchdowns through the air for the Buckeyes.
Based on this trade, it seems that the Jets are looking ahead to April 29 to name their next signal-caller.