With Sam Darnold likely out in New York, could the Steelers make him the heir to the throne when Ben Roethlisberger retires?
With the New York Jets likely to take a quarterback at number two overall in this year’s NFL Draft, Sam Darnold will likely be traded to a team looking for a young QB. Darnold has shown a lot of flashes of great potential in his time in New York. However, given his awful coaching staff carousel and mediocre at best weapons, Darnold was never truly given a fair shot.
With the next chapter in his career likely to begin, the Pittsburgh Steelers should absolutely be taking a look at the young QB as an opportunity to keep the franchise on track after Ben Roethlisberger hangs it up. Let’s take a look at a few trade packages that the Steelers could potentially offer the Jets for a shot at Sam Darnold.
Potential trades could Steelers make for Darnold
First, the question is asking price. How much does the Jets GM believe Sam Darnold is worth in a trade? I feel like at first, the Jets will open things open by asking for a first-round draft pick, but as we all know that won’t be a price any team is willing to pay. I strongly believe the price tag on Darnold will be cheaper than what Carson Wentz was traded for to the Colts. Darnold is worth roughly a second and fifth-round pick to me, and if that’s the asking price of the Jets front office, that would be an exceptional deal for the Steelers to help them in the future.
Another sneaky reason why the Steelers could be interested in Darnold could be his college ties to JuJu Smith-Schuster. The former college teammates would love to link back up in the pros and boy would it be a joy for JuJu to see his former college QB1 throw him a touchdown in the NFL.
Darnold has some similar play mechanics to a young Big Ben due to his sneaky mobility in the pocket as well as his toughness and composure. Darnold can also make some absolutely eye-popping throws on the run that make opposing defenses go ‘How did he throw that?’ What I’m saying is, Sam Darnold is a really solid talent, and if the Steelers could get him for a cheap asking price, they should go all in.
My offer to the Jets would be the Steelers give up their 2021 2nd round draft pick and 5th round draft pick for Sam Darnold. I would be absolutely over the moon if the Steelers made this move. This not only helps the Steelers now by filling a need at potential QB of the future, but it also gives them a true option at QB moving forward allowing them to focus on other positions in the draft to keep the team competitive and avoid a full rebuild.