2018 NFL draft: New York Jets select QB Sam Darnold with No. 3 pick
The New York Jets hope they’ve chosen correctly, and have their quarterback of the future: With the No. 3 pick in the NFL draft, the team selected USC’s Sam Darnold.
Measuring 6-foot-3, 221 pounds, Darnold began last year’s college football season as the presumed top pick in the draft, and played under a microscope because of it. He didn’t have quite the season many expected of him, and as Oklahoma’s Baker Mayfield played a Heisman Trophy-worthy season, it was Mayfield who became the top quarterback in the minds of many draft observers.
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But Darnold has the size and genes — his entire family were college-level athletes, with his grandfather, Dick Hammer, going to the Olympics as a volleyball player — and he impressed the Jets in his visit to the team’s facility.
“Sam Darnold was very engaging, very intelligent and you can see he was a hell of a competitor,” Jets coach Todd Bowles told ESPN’s Sal Paolantonio. “He would fit right in with what the NYJ are trying to do.”
Darnold will get to learn from Josh McCown, who led the Jets to a somewhat surprising five wins in their first 12 games last season before breaking his hand in Week 14. New York also signed Teddy Bridgewater to a one-year contract.
More NFL draft coverage from Yahoo Sports:
• Browns draft Mayfield with No. 1 pick
• Giants take Barkley with No. 2 pick instead of Darnold
• Watch: Best of the NFL draft red carpet
• NFL draft grades 2018: The emoji edition
• Allen on offensive tweets: ‘We were young and dumb’
