Sam Darnold’s NFL career got off to the worst possible start on Monday night, but he quickly righted the ship to lead the New York Jets to a convincing 48-17 win over the Detroit Lions. Does that mean the former USC star is destined to turn into a franchise quarterback?
Todd Bowles isn’t ready to crown Darnold just yet.
On Thursday, Bowles praised Darnold for having “rare” poise and not seeming like the youngest QB to ever start a Week 1 NFL game, but he also said people who are saying the Jets have found their franchise leader for the next 10-15 years are jumping the gun a bit.
“We won one game,” Bowles said, via Kevin Patra of NFL.com. “I can tell you after about 100 more of them whether we have one or not, right now it’s a little early.”
Bowles added that he trusts Darnold to make the right adjustments going forward when things don’t go his way, and we saw a great example of that when he refused to let a pick-six define his NFL debut. Still, Bowles reminded fans that one game means very little in the overall picture.
“It’s going to take more than a game to say that he’s really good. It’s going to take more than a game,” Bowles insisted. “… It’s one been one game to sit here and say whether he’s great, whether he’s trash or whether anything else is kind of way too early for that. He’s played one game, he’s got a lot of years to go and he’ll build it as he goes.”
In case you couldn’t tell by the reactions on social media, people were waiting to jump all over Darnold if he continued the trend of Jets rookie quarterbacks struggling mightily. While Week 1 was a great start, there are going to be plenty more bumps in the road. How Darnold responds to those will define his career.
