The New York Jets were coming off a 5-11 season in 2017. They completed a trade with the Indianapolis Colts to move up with the third overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
When the Jets were on the clock, Baker Mayfield was selected by the Cleveland Browns and Saquon Barkley was the newest member of the New York Giants. New York needed a quarterback – and the team chose Sam Darnold.
The Jets chose the USC product over other options, including Josh Allen, Josh Rosen and Lamar Jackson.
The Josh McCown era was in the rearview mirror as the Darnold era had begun. But that only lasted three seasons as the quarterback was traded to the Carolina Panthers before the 2021 season. Let’s look back at Darnold’s tenure with the Gang Green.
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Sam Darnold’s record with the Jets
New York decided to roll with Darnold in the first week of his rookie season. He made his debut against the Detroit Lions and led the team to a 48-17 victory with 198 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception – although the turnover was a pick six during of his first career pass in the NFL.
Darnold didn’t play three full seasons with the Jets and actually never played a full season in his career. The quarterback dealt with a sprained foot, mononucleosis, multiple shoulder joint sprains, a concussion and a broken shoulder blade during his playing career.
Darnold started 13 games as a rookie in 2018, 13 games during his up-and-down 2019 and 12 games during his final season in New York. In those seasons, the Jets finished 4-12, 7-9, and 2-14, respectively.
| Games | Games started | Save | |
| 2018-2022 | 38 | 38 | 13-25 |
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Sam Darnold’s stats with the Jets
Darnold has the ability to escape from a pocket, but he is not a true dual-threat quarterback. He’s more of a pocket passer, which ended up being his downfall in New York as he struggled early on with his accuracy. Darnold had the best season of his career in 2019, but it wasn’t all positive. Although statistically it was his best season, it was also the year of his famous “seeing ghosts” moment.
| Season | Games | Transition course | Pass the TDs | Interceptions |
| 2018 | 13 | 2,865 | 17 | 15 |
| 2019 | 13 | 3,024 | 19 | 13 |
| 2020 | 12 | 2,208 | 9 | 11 |
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Sam Darnold “seeing ghosts”
Darnold’s tenure in New York will unfortunately likely be remembered more for his quotes and not his play on the field. He was in his second season, playing against the New England Patriots for the Monday Night Football game in Week 7 of that year.
The quarterback struggled mightily against the defense, throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble. Darnold was caught on microphone during the game and he was caught reacting to the defense saying he was “seeing ghosts” out there. The clip was shared on social media and went viral.
Sam Darnold is on the microphone and he came to the sidelines and said, “I see ghosts.” »
(Via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/9MoM6Rkmo5
– Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) October 22, 2019
