Colin Cowherd To Jets: Keep Sam Darnold, Pass On Justin Fields
Colin Cowherd To Jets: Keep Sam Darnold, Pass On Justin Fields
The New York Jets possibly lost their shot at the top overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft this past week. Because of the team’s win over the LA Rams this past weekend, they and the Jacksonville Jaguars now have identical 1-13 records.
However, Jacksonville owns the tiebreaker thanks to a significantly worse strength of schedule.
That means New York will have a tough time landing Clemson superstar Trevor Lawrence, and will likely have to settle for Ohio State’s Justin Fields if they want a quarterback to replace Sam Darold.
On Tuesday, Fox Sports radio broadcaster Colin Cowherd cautioned the Jets against making that move.
“The gap between Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields is huge,” he said.
“Justin Fields is good, but this is John Elway, this is Andrew Luck. This is the third quarterback in my life who is ‘can’t-miss’ and will overcome mediocre or even bad coaching. Justin Fields will not.”
Part of the issue for Cowherd has been Fields’ unimpressive showings this year.
“I’ve watched Justin Fields play four times this year, and three of four I’m like ‘eh,’” he said.
“This morning I think I’d keep Sam Darnold. Philadelphia gave up five picks four years ago to move up for Carson Wentz. You’re kidding yourself if you don’t think an NFL team as we get close to the Draft is not going to move up and give New York three or four picks.
“Keep Sam Darnold, get more picks, keep building the fortress up, and then in one year if Darnold is still not what you think, you’ve rebuilt the o-line, you’ve got a starting corner, and you got multiple picks. You watched Justin Fields against Northwestern — I’m not rebooting the franchise for that… If Justin Fields chops Clemson up in 10 days maybe I have a different opinion, but this morning I keep Darnold.”
Will New York heed Cowherd’s advice? Time will tell.
Jennifer Withers Hoey is a former Business Development Manager who transitioned to writing about sports. With valuable connections all over the West Coast, she has used those contacts to break some of the most interesting stories pertaining to the Portland Trail Blazers, Oregon Ducks, LA Lakers, LA Clippers, Seattle Supersonics (RIP), and more.
