The New York Jets were coming off a 5-11 season in 2017. They made a trade with the Indianapolis Colts to move up to the third pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
When the Jets were on the clock, Baker Mayfield had been selected by the Cleveland Browns and Saquon Barkley was the newest member of the New York Giants. New York was in need of 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 as the Darnold era had begun. But it only lasted three seasons as the quarterback was traded to the Carolina Panthers ahead of the 2021 season. Let's take a look back at Darnold's tenure with the Gang Green.
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Sam Darnold record with Jets
New York decided to roll with Darnold from Week 1 of his rookie season. He debuted against the Detroit Lions and led the team to a 48-17 win with 198 passing yards, two touchdowns and an interception — though the turnover was a pick-six on his first career NFL pass.
Darnold didn't play three full seasons with the Jets, and actually has never played a full season in his career. The quarterback has dealt with a foot sprain, mononucleosis, multiple shoulder joint sprains, a concussion and a fractured scapula in his playing career.
Darnold started 13 games as a rookie in 2018, 13 games in his up-and-down 2019 and 12 games in his final season in New York. In those seasons the Jets finished 4-12, 7-9 and 2-14, respectively.
| Games | Games Started | Record | |
| 2018-2022 | 38 | 38 | 13-25 |
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Sam Darnold stats with Jets
Darnold has the ability to escape a pocket, but he isn't a true dual-threat quarterback. He is more a pocket passer, which ended up being his downfall in New York as he struggled early with his accuracy. Darnold had the best season of his career in 2019, but it wasn't all positives. While statistically it was his best season, it was also the year for his infamous "seeing ghosts" moment.
| Season | Games | Passing Yards | Passing 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' meme
Darnold's tenure in New York is unfortunately likely going to be more remembered for his quotes and not his play on the field. He was in his second season, playing the New England Patriots for that year's Week 7 Monday Night Football game.
The quarterback struggled mightily against the defense, throwing four interceptions and losing a fumble. Darnold was mic'd up during the game and he was caught reacting to the defense by saying that he was "seeing ghosts" out there. The clip hit social media and went viral.
Sam Darnold is mic’d up and he came to the sidelines and said, “I’m seeing ghosts.”
— Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) October 22, 2019
(Via @ESPN) pic.twitter.com/9MoM6Rkmo5
