The New York Jets didn’t come anywhere close to reaching Super Bowl LX this season, and yet, the team has found itself involved in several notable storylines ahead of the big game. The final game of the 2025 campaign will see the Jets’ hated AFC East rival, the New England Patriots, square off against the Seattle Seahawks, who are led by New York’s former quarterback, Sam Darnold.
Over the past two seasons, Darnold has authored one of the great turnarounds in NFL history. After getting castoff by the Jets early in his career, Darnold has gradually turned himself into the quarterback the team thought it was getting when it selected him with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. The guy who selected him was former general manager Mike Maccagnan, and he recently took aim at the Jets for giving up on Darnold too early in his career.
Mike Maccagnan Was Not a Fan of the Jets’ Decision to Trade Sam Darnold
Maccagnan was the main voice pushing the Jets to select Darnold in the 2018 draft, but he never panned out with the team. In three seasons with New York, Darnold struggled quite a bit, as he completed just 59.8% of his passes, while also throwing 39 interceptions along the way. Simply put, it seemed like Darnold was the team’s latest draft bust.
In 2019, Maccagnan got fired by the Jets, and after the 2020 season, Darnold was traded to the Carolina Panthers. Things didn’t go much better for him in two seasons with them, but a stint with the San Francisco 49ers in 2023 as Brock Purdy’s backup seemed to allow Darnold to reset. When he earned the Minnesota Vikings‘ starting quarterback job in 2024, he never looked back.
While Darnold struggled in the biggest games of the season for the Vikings, the Seahawks scooped him up in free agency, and he’s promptly led the team to the Super Bowl. In the process, Maccagnan’s evaluation of Darnold has been justified, and he didn’t hesitate to call out his former team for giving up on the former first-round pick too quickly.
“I was always kind of sad that Sam wasn’t able to fulfill that potential in New York,” Maccagnan said, per Rich Cimini of ESPN. “That’s where he started his journey, and, in an ideal world, he would’ve finished it there … My personal opinion: I would’ve liked to have seen him get a full opportunity there. But at the end of the day, I wasn’t in that building, so I can’t say, ‘They should’ve done this, this and this.’ I wasn’t around. But I was saddened to see them trade him.”
Jets Still Looking for Their Quarterback of the Future
GettyNew York Jets head coach Aaron Glenn reacting in the middle of an NFL game.
Seeing Darnold excel with Seattle has certainly been a tough pill for New York to swallow, especially since it still doesn’t have its quarterback of the future. After moving on from Darnold, the Jets selected Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft, but he endured the same sorts of problems that his predecessor dealt with during his time under center in New York.
After the team’s plan of turning to Justin Fields as their quarterback blew up in their faces last season, it’s back to the drawing board for the Jets when it comes to the most important position in the game of football. Until the team finds a proper solution at quarterback, its struggles will continue, which makes Darnold’s success with the Seahawks all the more painful.
Jets Get Called Out for Sam Darnold Decision by Former General Manager