honestly you could make the case that the jets should’ve just kept darnold after the 2020 season but that wasn’t going to happen after the team went 2-14 that year and most of their fans were pining for a new franchise QB in what was thought to be a loaded and stacked 2021 NFL draft class at the QB position

but most QB with the 2020 jets wouldn’t look good with gase as your head coach and with a 37 year old gore as your best offense weapon considering the other skilled position talent consisted of crowder, berrois, perriman, herndon, and mims

i believe if darnold was the jets starting QB in 2023 that the jets would have a winning record right now

and lets be real the jets screwed themselves with the QB situation as they were locked into the #1 pick for the 2021 draft 13 games into the 2020 season having gone winless but then won 2 of their last 3 games … granted it didn’t help that the jaguars also were headed for a historically bad season going 1-15 and with how strength of schedule factors into the NFL draft order the only way the jets had a chance at the first pick in the 2021 draft was to go 0-16

that’s the big question for the jets org and jets fan … do you take the indignity of a winless season like the 2008 lions and 2017 browns but get the #1 overall pick in the 2021 NFL draft that lets remember had lawrence as the no doubt projected #1 pick who was thought to be the consensus top pick in 2021 ever since the end of his freshman season in college the past 2 years ever since late 2018 and one of the best and most hyped up QB prospects being ranked up there with the likes of elway in 1983, manning in 1998, and luck in 2012

now personally as a 49ers fan not having been in that type of situation although i was actually hoping the 49ers would lose the rest of 2016 as i desperately wanted to be in a position to get the #1 pick in 2017 to draft garrett who at the time was seen as one of the best edge pass rushers to come out of college maybe in decades but if lets say lawrence was coming out in 2017 then yeah i’d “root” for the 49ers to tank and get that potential franchise QB

never mind the jets have had a miserable QB history unlike the 49ers having been spurned in 1996 when they had the #1 pick that year in a year that manning had he come out after his junior season would’ve gone #1 but instead traded down multiple times in the top 10 and ended up drafting farrior at #8 … though looking back they passed up on the chance to draft two future HOF left tackles with pace at #1 overall and traded down again from #6 where another HOF was drafted in jones

pennington in 2000, sanchez in 2009, darnold in 2018, wilson in 2021 … jets just stink with drafting QB granted pennington was pretty good for them

but to be honest i don’t feel bad for jets fans especially early in 2022 when the rumors were swirling that the jets were the most likely landing spot for deebo who most thought was going to be traded and jets fans were so arrogant saying how the 49ers and 49ers fans were asking for too much and their GM was so great and blah blah blah … and when the trade fell thru because the jets demanded a 2nd rd pick in return along with deebo for the #10 pick in 2022 when the thinking was the jets would be the team who would need to add an extra pick in the deal to go thru … again i remember going to see the reaction of jets fans and they were defending their GM at the time saying how he looked like a genius during that whole situation and the 49ers were being idiots and delusional about asking for “too much” for the #10 pick

now less than 2 years later these same jets fans for the most part have done a 180 and want their GM fired and the 49ers continue to be one of the most well run franchises in the NFL