The New York Jets’ beginning to their season has been a nightmare. Winless and without their starting quarterback, the Jets are clinging onto the little bit of good news on Sam Darnold that came out.
Diagnosed with mononucleosis, there was a concern that Darnold would miss a big chunk of the season. Fortunately, it seems like his time off is serving him well as he received partial clearance to begin throwing and do non-contact work.
There was a little spark of hope that the 22-year-old QB would be available to play this Sunday against the Eagles, but coach Adam Gase said today that it’s “questionable” that he returns this weekend.
“(The test results were) not the clear-cut answer we were hoping for,” said Gase. “There’s just a lot of gray area right now.”
The Jets will most likely have to start their former practice-squad quarterback Luke Falk for the second consecutive week. Trevor Siemian was originally the backup quarterback until he suffered an ankle injury that will cause him to miss the rest of the year.
In his one game this season against the Buffalo Bills, Darnold went 28-41 throwing for 175 yards with one touchdown.
“We have to see how practice goes, we have to see how he feels, we have to see what his conditioning level is,” said Gase. “There are a lot of boxes we have to check before we can say, ‘Hey, we’re rolling on Sunday.”
The New York Jets shouldn’t rush Darnold back, however. There’s no need to rush him back from a serious illness that could potentially only cause more harm to him and the team.