The answer to everyone’s biggest Jets question may already be sitting in Todd Bowles’ mind, but he isn’t ready to turn it into words just yet.
“I have some ideas in my head, but I’ll wait till the last two preseason games,” Bowles said Saturday when asked if he’s close to making a decision on the starting quarterback.
Bowles got his first glimpse of rookie Sam Darnold as a starting quarterback in Thursday’s loss to the Redskins, as the No. 3 pick got the call and delivered mixed results. Playing all of the first half, Darnold completed 8 of 11 passes for 62 yards and one interception.
“After watching the tape, I thought I managed the game really well,” Darnold said after practice.
Though Bowles said he “probably” will wait until after the final preseason game to name a starter, Darnold continued to get the bulk of the reps during practice, spending plenty of time with the first team, though Josh McCown, and, to a lesser extent, Teddy Bridgewater also got snaps with the starters.
Darnold downplayed the idea that this week is a big opportunity to seize the starting job, as Week 3 of the preseason is typically when starters play the most. Though he has said he wants to start, Darnold continued to play the company line like McCown and Bridgewater.
“From the inside, we’re just looking to be great quarterbacks every single day,” Darnold said. “The cliché is we’re not counting our reps, we’re just making our reps count, and that’s kind of how it is in the quarterback room.”
But McCown can already see a difference in Darnold. The veteran has been around plenty of rookies in his time in the NFL, but no first-year quarterbacks have come into camp quite like Darnold, he said.
“I don’t want to put any undue expectations on him, but I’ve been very impressed with him, I’ll be honest with you, of any rookie player I’ve been around,” said McCown, who did not play against the Redskins. “He’s been impressive how he’s handled information from the classroom to take it to the field and take it to the game, he’s done an excellent job of that.”
McCown likened Darnold’s mentality to wide receiver Anquan Boldin, who he saw break into the league with the Cardinals.
“He has that same ability to operate like he’s been here before,” McCown said. “It’s not too big for him, that’s the biggest thing. … One of the most impressive guys as a rookie that I’ve been around.”
Darnold already has made improvements to his game in a short amount of time. One notable adjustment he made against the Redskins was a more concerted effort to keep two hands on the ball while in the pocket, which he didn’t always do at USC.
It hasn’t taken Darnold long to figure out the NFL is a little different than college.
“I felt like sometimes, especially in college, I tried to do too much,” he said. “I think when a play’s breaking down, there’s a fine line between trying to make a play and make something happen and just knowing that they got you. I think that’s really where I’ve grown the most.
“In the NFL, those defensive linemen and linebackers are such athletes that if a guy’s running free at you, you might not get away from them maybe like you would in college. I’m just learning as much as I can. For me, it’s really just learning when to eat it and when to try to scramble and make something happen.”
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