NEW YORK — Sam Darnold missed practice Thursday after aggravating his shoulder injury last week, but Jets coach Adam Gase remains optimistic that the quarterback will be able to play against the Patriots on Monday night.
Although Darnold's latest MRI didn't reveal any additional structural damage to his sprained AC joint suffered last month against the Broncos, it's curious why the organization wouldn't err on the side of caution and sit him out again given that they're not playing any more meaningful games at 0-8.
"Right now, I feel pretty good about it," Gase said Thursday about Darnold's availability for the primetime game. "It's just going to be about ... if something doesn't feel right when we do get him out there. His mindset is that it will take something not feeling right for him not to play. We just felt like this was a chance to give him one more day of rest."
Gase & Co. curiously put Darnold back into a 35-9 game with 11 minutes to go in Kansas City last week after he aggravated the injury on a third-down scramble necessitated by poor pass protection.
"He's just sore," said Gase, who underscored the importance of Darnold's practice participation in red-zone and third-down work on Friday and Saturday. "I think it's going to take a lot for him to stay out of this game."
General manager Joe Douglas said earlier in the week that he viewed Darnold as "our quarterback of the future" despite taking a step back in his third season.
"Sam's an ultra-talented quarterback," Douglas said. "I really can't say enough about his grit and his toughness."
There's no denying Darnold's desire to fight through pain to play, but it's incumbent upon the organization to protect any injured player from himself. Darnold is fully aware that he could be auditioning for his own team and others over the final two months of the season.
It appears unlikely that Douglas & Co. would pass up on taking Clemson quarterback Trevor Lawrence if they wind up with the No. 1 pick in the 2021 draft. So, the final two months matter for him.
But the Jets shouldn't be reckless by throwing him out there when he's not fully healthy like they've already done three times this season.
"I feel like he has a different set of wide receivers every week," said Douglas, who failed the third-year quarterback by adding no impact weapons and surrounding him with one of the worst offensive lines in the league. "We've had almost a different set of offense linemen out there every week. It's important to surround any quarterback with talent. I think you see the flashes of what he can be, and they're really special. Let's not forget that Sam's a 23-year-old quarterback that is maybe one of the toughest quarterbacks I've ever been around. So, no, I'm very excited about Sam."
