Sam Darnold's Super Bowl Start Has Jets Fans Wondering: What If?
As Sam Darnold prepares to start in the Super Bowl-yes, that Sam Darnold-it’s hard not to rewind the clock and think about how we got here. After bouncing around the league and finding his footing with the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks, Darnold is now on the sport’s biggest stage. And for Jets fans, that reality stings just a little more than usual.
Let’s go back to the spring of 2021. The Jets, coming off another disappointing season, made the call to move on from Darnold after three turbulent years.
New general manager Joe Douglas and freshly hired head coach Robert Saleh opted to reset the franchise’s quarterback timeline, trading Darnold and selecting BYU’s Zach Wilson with the No. 2 overall pick. At the time, it felt like a necessary move.
Hindsight? That’s a different story.
The man who originally drafted Darnold, former Jets GM Mike Maccagnan, still believes in the quarterback he took third overall in 2018. In his first public interview since being fired by the Jets in 2019, Maccagnan opened up about Darnold’s journey-and the regret that lingers.
“I was always kind of sad that Sam wasn't able to fulfill that potential in New York,” Maccagnan said. “That's where he started his journey, and, in an ideal world, he would've finished it there.”
That sentiment hits home for a lot of Jets fans. Darnold’s time in New York was far from smooth, but there were moments-those flashes of arm talent, the mobility, the poise under pressure-that reminded people why he was so highly touted coming out of USC.
His rookie year had its ups and downs, but there was hope. His second season showed some growth.
But by 2020, things unraveled.
That final year in green and white was rough. The offense sputtered, the supporting cast didn’t help, and Darnold looked like a shell of the quarterback many thought he could be.
To make matters worse, veteran backup Joe Flacco occasionally outperformed him in spot starts. The writing was on the wall.
The Jets needed a fresh start, and Darnold became collateral damage.
Fast forward to now, and the story has flipped. Darnold has led two different teams to 14-win seasons, and now he’s starting in a Super Bowl.
It’s a level no Jets quarterback has reached since Joe Namath pulled off the unthinkable in January 1969. That’s nearly six decades of waiting, and here’s Darnold-no longer in green, but still very much in the spotlight.
Maccagnan, for one, still sees the potential he believed in back in 2018.
“In our business, when you see something, and it turns out the way you envisioned it, it makes you feel good,” he said. “I think every scout probably feels that way.”
He also made it clear he wasn’t in the building when the Jets made the decision to move on, so he’s not pointing fingers. But the disappointment is there.
“My personal opinion: I would've liked to have seen him get a full opportunity there,” Maccagnan said. “But at the end of the day, I wasn't in that building… But I was saddened to see them trade him.”
Now, Darnold’s Super Bowl opponent? The New England Patriots-a team that haunted him during his Jets tenure.
In fact, he lost to them in his final game wearing a Jets uniform. That’s the kind of full-circle moment that sports fans live for.
So when Darnold takes the field on Sunday, plenty of Jets fans will be watching with mixed emotions. Pride.
Regret. Curiosity.
Maybe even a little hope that one day their team will find a quarterback who can take them to that same stage.
And for some, that old No. 14 jersey might just come out of the closet again-not as a symbol of what was, but of what might’ve been.