Once upon a draft night, they were the chosen ones.
Sam Darnold, Daniel Jones, Baker Mayfield, Mac Jones.
They were not all in the same class, but they had similar stories.
Each of them was introduced as the savior of a franchise, the fresh start, the first-round answer for now and the future. And every one of them has also been booed, benched, highly criticized, cut and/or traded.
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Darnold was supposed to rescue the Jets. That was, uh, monotonous. Baker was supposed to revive Cleveland. That didn’t work. Both quarterbacks wound up in Carolina — at the same time. The Panthers didn’t want them either. Daniel Jones got paid to prove the Giants finally got it right. That got weird. He then spent a few weeks with Kevin O’Connell and the Vikings. Mac Jones was the heir to Tom Brady’s New England empire, but he was then sent to Jacksonville. They all came up short for years, told by sports talking heads and their fans that they stink.
Not anymore.
Darnold looks resurrected in Seattle, playing his best football. Mayfield keeps reinventing himself, smiling through it all like a guy who knows how close he came to being out of the league. Daniel Jones is leading the Colts, running Shane Steichen’s offense like all that New York noise never happened. And Mac Jones is out in San Francisco, reminding everyone what confidence and a great teacher can look like together, when they’re not smothered by dysfunction.
Four reminders that in today’s NFL, teams fall in and out of love faster than the lifespan of a TikTok trend.
And yet, somehow, these men are still competing and now winning.
Once upon a draft night, they were the answer.
Turns out, they still are … just for different teams.
Let’s get to it. Here’s what I’m hearing around the league on:
Eagles gassed
Belichick’s future
Dart’s morning after
A $100,000 fine?!?
Daniel Jones’ most famous fan
Cincy’s funk
Flacco’s focus
Trade deadline chatter
Philly, Philly, silly, silly
“I don’t recall a meeting.” That was A.J. Brown after the Eagles’ second straight loss.
Don’t worry, A.J. — I think it’s fair to say we all hate meetings. But you don’t have to pretend one never happened … or was he actually telling the truth?
Despite reports of a players-only sitdown after the loss to Denver — s
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