Predicting A Trade: Sam Darnold To Carolina Panthers In Exchange For The #8 Overall Pick

By: NFLHeads2020

Sam Darnold seems to be on the way out of New York, and Carolina seems to also be done with Teddy Bridgewater.

While Darnold’s career is a little lackluster, there is still plenty left in the tank for the young quarterback, particularly in an offense that is not the worst in the entire NFL.

While some might argue that the Panthers are giving up a little too much, I would argue that the Jets will probably be driving a high price for Darnold, especially considering that the Jets spent the third overall pick on Darnold in 2018.

The Jets could use this new early pick to draft an offensive skill position player like DeVonta Smith.

Darnold is 13-25 as a starter and has graded as one of the NFL’s worst quarterbacks, both in terms of standard counting stats and advanced metrics.

With Darnold entering the final year of his rookie contract, with a decision on his fifth-year option (2022) due by May 3, the Jets face salary-cap uncertainty at quarterback beyond 2021. The Jets can solve that by trading Darnold (a $4.8 million cap savings) and going with a rookie, saving a lot of cap dollars.

This week Peter King reported that the 49ers could be a likely team but our friends at NFLHeads2020 feels that Darnold could be the starter for the Panthers. It makes sense, and the Panthers would be adding a 23 year old quarterback to their arsenal. If the team can keep Taylor Moten and get a healthy Christian McCaffrey back they would be in business. The move might make too much sense.