Jets' Robert Saleh Calls Sam Darnold Unbelievable Talent Amid Watson Trade Buzz

New York Jets coach Robert Saleh appears to be a believer in Sam Darnold. 

"He is an unbelievable talent," Saleh said on the Huddle and Flow podcast with Steve Wyche and Jim Trotter. "There's a reason why he was the third overall pick. Just watch the tape. Production aside, just watch the player. He's got tremendous mobility. He's got arm talent, fearless, smart, and he's a quick, precise decision-maker. He's loved in the locker room, and people adore him around this building." 

Darnold's future with the Jets is up in the air as the team explores potential options at the quarterback position. While their late-season, two-game winning streak took them out of the running for Trevor Lawrence, the Jets could target BYU's Zach Wilson or Ohio State's Justin Fields with their first-round pick.

Darnold's development stagnated in Adam Gase's two years as Jets coach. The USC product threw for 2,208 yards and nine touchdowns against 11 interceptions this season, ranking near the bottom in every major measurement of quarterback evaluation. 

While the Jets' lack of skill-position talent and Gase's struggles to build a cogent offense played a factor, Darnold simply wasn't very good at anything in 2020. Darnold had the NFL's worst air yards differential among starters and completed 3.2 percent less of his passes than expected, per NFL NextGen Stats. Only Carson Wentz had a worse rating under Football Outsiders' DYAR metric.

Mike LaFleur followed Saleh to New York to serve as his offensive coordinator and is expected to install an offensive system similar to the one ran in San Francisco. Saleh said he believes Darnold could fit in well with the system due to his mobility. 

"If you look at it, he would instantly become the most mobile quarterback that the system’s ever had aside from maybe Jake Plummer when he with Denver," Saleh said. "Just from a mobility standpoint, to be able to create off schedule the way he does, he’d probably be one of the better ones that the system’s ever had."

While Darnold is not a stiff as an athlete, few would call him an accomplished scrambler, either. He is more mobile than Jimmy Garoppolo but far less so than Wilson or Fields, both of whom could benefit from a run-first scheme as they get their feet wet in the NFL.

The Jets also have the draft capital for a potential trade with the Houston Texans for Deshaun Watson, though it's unclear if Watson would want to play for a team that was 2-14 last season. Watson has a no-trade clause in his contract.