Sam Darnold entered his sophomore season with the hope of perfecting his strengths and mitigating his weaknesses after a promising rookie campaign. The Jets expected to see a significant jump from their franchise quarterback, especially with new coach Adam Gase running the offense.
However, Darnold’s season went off the rails in the beginning after he missed three games with mononucleosis, and his season-ending stats weren’t all that impressive. Whether it was because of bad coaching, a bad roster or bad habits by the quarterback, Darnold didn’t perform as well as the Jets would have hoped. For every bright spot (remember the Cowboys and Raiders wins?) there were dreadful outings (lest we forget the Patriots and Jaguars losses).
All in all, Darnold turned in an admirable season despite the chaotic year, and there remain reasons to hope that he can continue to mold into a franchise quarterback.
Here are six stats on how Darnold both progressed and regressed in his sophomore season.
Progressed: Higher completion percentage
Darnold played efficiently in 2019 despite the offense’s inability to muster points or yards. He completed 61.9 percent of his passing attempts, which beat out Darnold’s 57.7 completion percentage in 2018. It’s not a great number by any means, but progress is progress.
This progressed has a lot to do both with Darnold’s ability to find receivers and also the type of passes he attempted. With Le’Veon Bell and Jamison Crowder in tow, Darnold completed a lot of shorter passes, as evidenced by his lower yards per completion mark.
Regressed: Fewer yards per completion
The Jets offense sputtered throughout the 2019 season, and Darnold suffered because of it. Despite adding Bell and Crowder, Darnold rarely completed long passes and he averaged only 11.1 yards per completion – which is less than his 12.0 mark in 2018.
During his rookie year, Darnold finished 11th in yards per completion. This season, though, he finished 20th among qualified quarterbacks. Not the right direction he wants to be stepping, especially with an offensive-minded coach like Gase.
Progressed: Better overall record
Winning matters in the NFL and Darnold helped bring the Jets out of the depths of an 0-4 season to start the year by winning seven of his 13 starts in 2019. His 53.8 winning percentage this past season isn’t much to write home about, but it’s encouraging given his 4-9 record during his rookie season.
Darnold didn’t win every game, but he made the Jets competitive in most and won some crucial matches toward the end of the season, finishing 6-2 in the second half of the year. That alone is a good sign for Darnold from a mental standpoint and a good sign for the team that he can win with such a depleted roster.
Regressed: Took more sacks
Darnold’s mobility is one of his best assets, but it’s also one that’s gotten him into trouble at times. He finished the season with 33 sacks, which was three more than his rookie mark of 30. Some of this can be attributed to Darnold trying too hard to extend plays, but a lot of this will be pinned on the Jets’ horrendous offensive line that looked different every week and constantly underperformed.
Darnold needs to learn how to avoid sacks a little better, or how to throw away the ball when a sack is imminent. GM Joe Douglas can help Darnold out as well by building a better line in front of him for the 2020 season.
Progressed: Interceptions decreased
Darnold played 13 games in each of the past two seasons, but in 2019 he threw only 13 interceptions compared to 15. While this isn’t a vast improvement, he only threw multiple interceptions in a single game twice, which is half as many times as he did in 2018.
Seven of his 13 interceptions came in back-to-back games against the Patriots and Jaguars, and both featured moments where Darnold threw off his back foot instead of throwing the ball away. He learned from those mistakes down the stretch and finished with only three picks in the final six games of the season. He especially played better against zone defenses. As noted by ESPN’s Rich Cimini, Darnold threw only four of his 13 interceptions against zone coverage, compared to 10 of his 15 interceptions in 2018.
Regressed: Too many fumbles
While Darnold threw fewer interceptions, he fumbled the ball more than twice as often as he did in 2018. He fumbled 11 times in 2019, and fortunately only lost the ball three times. That’s discouraging for a young quarterback known to use his legs a lot.
Darnold was always known as turnover-prone in college, and he fell back into his bad habits in 2019 on the fumbling front. He needs to learn how to hold onto the ball if he wants his offense to stay on the field.
