New York Jets: Sam Darnold trade adds to 2021, 2022 pick bounty
The New York Jets have traded former third-overall pick Sam Darnold to the Carolina Panthers, adding to their massive haul of draft capital for the 2021 NFL Draft and 2022 NFL Draft.
The New York Jets have obviously set their sights on Zach Wilson in the 2021 NFL Draft and the Carolina Panthers were probably targeting Mac Jones at pick number 8 overall, and he’s likely destined for the San Francisco 49ers at pick number 3.
That set in motion the trade that has now landed Darnold in Carolina in a relatively great situation, all things considered. The Panthers have a good core of skill players and Matt Rhule has a wunderkind offensive coordinator in Joe Brady who could be one of the NFL’s next hot head coach candidates.
The New York Jets get to comfortably move on from Darnold, knowing they got actually pretty great value in return for him.
Although they would have obviously loved to have not had to trade him at all, considering Darnold’s injuries and inconsistent play, getting three draft picks — a second-round pick among them — in exchange for him in the final year of his contract is a great haul for Joe Douglas and Robert Saleh, much less adding a fourth- and sixth-round pick on top of it.
Let’s take a look through the New York Jets’ next two years worth of picks.
New York Jets 2021 NFL Draft picks (10 total)
- 1st round: 2nd overall
- 1st round: 23rd overall (from SEA)
- 2nd round: 34th overall
- 3rd round: 66th overall
- 3rd round: 87th overall (from SEA)
- 4th round: 108th overall
- 5th round: 147th overall
- 5th round: 155th overall (from NYG)
- 6th round: 187th overall
- 6th round: 227th overall (from CAR)
New York Jets 2022 NFL Draft picks (12 total)
- 1st round
- 1st round (from SEA)
- 2nd round
- 2nd round (from CAR)
- 3rd round
- 4th round
- 4th round (from CAR)
- 5th round
- 5th round (from PIT)
- 6th round
- 6th round (from TB)
- 6th round (from SF)
Between the next two draft classes, the New York Jets own 22 total selections, four in the first round, seven in the top two rounds, and a whopping 10 selections in the first three rounds overall.
Having 10 top 100 selections in the next two draft classes — presumably nine to surround Zach Wilson with talent — is going to be absolutely massive as Robert Saleh builds the team his way in New York.
Although the Jets’ recent draft history hasn’t inspired confidence that these unknowns are going to work out for the best, it’s a new era for this franchise and with different people in charge of making it all work, it could be an era of prosperity after decades of despair.